ATR and atherosclerosis: DNA damage is a major driving force during cellular ageing, and it has been implicated in hastening the development of cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis where the accumulation of senescent cells has been shown to accelerate disease.1 Normally, DNA damage is efficiently repaired by the DNA damage response (DDR), a complex signalling cascade of proteins that include sensors (NBS1/MRE11), transducers (ataxia telangiectasia-mutated protein (ATM)/ataxia telangiectasia- and Rad3-related protein (ATR)) and effectors (p53/p21).