title: Identification of c-Jun N-terminal kinase as a therapeutic target for abdominal aortic aneurysm.
abstract: Despite the advances in molecular cell biology, identification of a therapeutic target in a given disease still poses a significant challenge. Here we report a strategy for identification of the therapeutic target in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). We screened for various signaling molecules in human AAA samples and identified c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) as a prominently activated molecule. The JNK pathway-oriented transcriptome analyses revealed that activation of JNK leads to enhancement of the activity of matrix metalloproteinases and, concurrently, suppression of the extracellular matrix biosynthesis, suggesting that JNK may represent a novel therapeutic target in AAA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Minami Kogushi, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan. yoshimko@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furutani
authors.forename: Kimikazu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamano
authors.forename: Masunori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
mesh_terms: D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000628:therapy; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases