RNA-ssisting immunity to heal the heart: a new frontier in therapeutics

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide. Despite significant progress and the development of numerous effective drugs, substantial morbidity and mortality persist. This review highlights one potentially fruitful avenue for discovering novel therapeutics: leveraging ribonucleic acid (RNA) to tip the immunological balance toward tissue repair. Decades of research have primed the three disciplines of cardiology, immunology, and RNA drug development, to bring potent intersectional therapies to the clinic. We discuss both coding and non-coding RNA interventions across multiple cell types, such as monocytes, macrophages, and T cells, throughout different cardiovascular diseases. Altogether, advanced RNA-based medicines targeting the immune system are primed to transform how cardiovascular diseases are treated.