• Jennifer P Habashi, Daniel P Judge, Tammy M Holm, Ronald D Cohn, Bart L Loeys, Timothy K Cooper, Loretha Myers, Erin C Klein, Guosheng Liu, Carla Calvi, Megan Podowski, Enid R Neptune, Marc K Halushka, Djahida Bedja, Kathleen Gabrielson, Daniel B Rifkin, Luca Carta, Francesco Ramirez, David L Huso, and Harry C Dietz.
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
• Science. 2006 Apr 7;312(5770):117-21.

AbstractAortic aneurysm and dissection are manifestations of Marfan syndrome (MFS), a disorder caused by mutations in the gene that encodes fibrillin-1. Selected manifestations of MFS reflect excessive signaling by the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) family of cytokines. We show that aortic aneurysm in a mouse model of MFS is associated with increased TGF-beta signaling and can be prevented by TGF-beta antagonists such as TGF-beta-neutralizing antibody or the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1) blocker, losartan. AT1 antagonism also partially reversed noncardiovascular manifestations of MFS, including impaired alveolar septation. These data suggest that losartan, a drug already in clinical use for hypertension, merits investigation as a therapeutic strategy for patients with MFS and has the potential to prevent the major life-threatening manifestation of this disorder.

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