MiR-223 plays important roles in the function of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and atherogenesis, and researchers found that the miR-223 sponge known as heart-related circRNA (HRCR) increases the expression of activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (ARC), an apoptosis repressor with a CARD domain, and thereby inhibits heart failure and cardiac hypertrophy (63, 66) (Table 1). Here, ARC is linked to cardiac hypertrophy.