In the United States, over 200,000 new patients are diagnosed with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) each year. Consequently, over 40,000 highly morbid aortic reconstructions are performed each year to prevent aneurysm rupture, a catastrophic event associated with near-certain mortality. No pharmaceutical currently exists to slow aneurysm growth, but a 50% reduction in diameter growth per annum could halve the number of aortic reconstructions required. Therefore, successful use of cell therapy to modulate chronic inflammation hallmark to AAA to slow diameter expansion represents a potentially paradigm-altering treatment.
Keywords: angiotensin II; aortic aneurysm, abdominal; doxycycline; matrix metalloproteinases; risk factors.