This also strongly argues for the indispensable role of MKL1 in regulating macrophage phenotype and function to promote disease pathogenesis when combined with previous reports indicating that MKL1 contributes to colitis (Yu et al., 2014), atherosclerosis (Minami et al., 2012), and sepsis (Yu et al., 2017). The gene discussed is MRTFA; the disease is Sepsis.