Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery remains the gold standard treatment for patients with severe atherosclerosis, but the long-term failure of the grafted veins is a persistent challenge. Excessive vascular smooth muscle cell (vSMC) proliferation in the grafted tissue, promoted by the increased exposure of vSMCs to pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines, is a key driver of late CABG failure. A team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh and collaborators previously identified a human-specific long noncoding RNA, named SMILR, that is enriched in vSMC and promotes its proliferation.