Unveiling the Impact of Arsenic Toxicity on Immune Cells in Atherosclerotic Plaques: Insights from Single-Cell Multi-Omics Profiling.

Millions worldwide are exposed to elevated levels of arsenic. This significantly increases their risk of developing atherosclerosis, a pathology primarily driven by immune cells. While the impact of arsenic on immune cell populations in atherosclerotic plaques has been broadly characterized, cellular heterogeneity is a substantial barrier to in-depth examinations of the cellular dynamics for varying immune cell populations. Here, we present one of the first single-cell multi-omics profiling of atherosclerotic plaques in apolipoprotein E knockout (apoE-/-) mice to understand the transcriptomic and epigenetic changes in various immune cells induced by arsenic. Our data reveal that arsenic alters the transcriptional profile of macrophages in a subtype-specific manner with implicated shifts in cell-cell interaction and cell fate predictions. Additionally, our data suggest that arsenic-mediated changes in chromosome accessibility are more profound than their effects on the transcriptome, hence revealing markers of arsenic exposure and potential targets of interventions. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.