A new commentary paper in Nicotine and Tobacco Research argues that recent cuts to the National Institutes of Health, including about $2 billion in terminated research grants and a $783 million cut to research funding linked to diversity and inclusion initiatives, will have a dramatically negative effect on efforts to combat tobacco usage and health disparities in the United States.

The research team led by Professors Yubo Fan and Xufeng Niu at Beihang University systematically investigated the changes in collagen fibers within atherosclerotic plaques by establishing an ApoE knockout mouse model fed with a high-fat diet, combined with histological staining, immunohistochemistry, and in vitro experiments. Their findings revealed a progressive decline in CFA orientation as AS advanced, with regions of randomization coinciding with inflammatory responses, smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotype switching, osteogenic gene expression, and vascular calcification. These results highlight CFA as a valuable indicator for delineating lesion regions and assessing disease stages, thus providing theoretical support for early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.