ATVB in Focus

his issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology marks the beginning of a series of review articles addressing recent advances in our understanding of new blood vessel formation.The goal of this review series is to highlight novel mechanisms involved in blood vessel growth.Blood vessel growth is mediated by angiogenesis, which is defined as the new blood vessel growth out of existing vessels, as well as by vasculogenesis.In contrast to angiogenesis, vasculogenesis refers to the contribution of circulating blood-derived cells to adult neovascularization and is also implicated in embryonic vessel development.Angiogenesis and vasculogenesis are regulated by a complex network of mediators and cellular interactions.Although intensively investigated during the last decades, various novel findings have emerged.