The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · May 2020
Accelerated Marfan syndrome model recapitulates established signaling pathways.
Marfan syndrome (MFS) represents a genetic disorder with a range of clinical features, including proximal aortic aneurysms. Extensive research has revealed an abundance of transforming growth factor beta from a mutation in fibrillin-1 to be the key biochemical mechanism of aneurysm formation. Many important signaling pathways downstream of transforming growth factor beta have been further characterized. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated a unique murine model of MFS resulting in the accelerated formation of ascending aortic aneurysms and dilated cardiomyopathies. This study aims to characterize the relevance of this model to known signaling mechanisms in MFS. ⋯ The murine MFS model depicted here accelerates ascending aortic aneurysm formation and cardiomyopathies via well-characterized MFS signaling cascades. The mechanistic relevance of the accelerated murine MFS model suggests that it could be an important tool in future studies hoping to characterize MFS signaling in an expedited experimental design.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · May 2020
EditorialOrgan-level vascularization: The Mars mission of bioengineering.
Organ-level vascularization has been a long-standing challenge in the field of tissue engineering. Recent advances, particularly in the use of projection stereolithography and food colors as photoabsorbers are highlighted, as are several recent studies on the clinical translation of engineered vasculature.