Total RNA was isolated from primary murine SMCs using TRI Reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific). The quantity and quality of the isolated RNA was verified using spectrophotometry (Nanodrop; Thermo Scientific) and validated on an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer with the RNA 6000 Nano kit (for RNA-sequencing), following the manufacturer's instructions. Library preparation and rRNA depletion were conducted using the TruSeq unstranded mRNA Library Prep kit (Illumina) starting with 500 ng of DNAse-depleted total RNA for each biological triplicate.