CD9 and atherosclerosis: The rigorous workflow ensures the functional integrity of the isolates for studying EC-VSMC crosstalk, particularly in atherosclerosis, where CD9+/CD81+ exosomes (~85 nm) regulate VSMC phenotypic switching through miR-143/145 delivery [16], a mechanism conserved across vascular pathologies [17].Whole-genome sequencing and high-throughput RNA-seq technologies have accelerated the discovery of diverse RNA species.