Towards a BETter understanding of cardiac fibrosis

Pharmacological inhibition of chromatin remodeling enzymes reduces cardiac fibrosis, but the underlying transcriptional regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using single-cell genomics to profile alterations in the transcriptional and chromatin landscape during stress-induced cardiac remodeling, Alexanian et al. discovered a critical role for Mesenchyme Homeobox 1 in the regulation of myofibroblast activation and cardiac fibrosis.