title: Cathepsins: a new culprit behind abdominal aortic aneurysm.
abstract: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a fatal disease defined as an abdominal aortic diameter of 3.0 cm or more, where the abdominal aorta exceeds the normal diameter by more than 50%. Histopathological changes of AAA mainly include extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling at the abdominal aorta wall, but there is lack of specific drugs to treat AAA. Recent studies have reported that lysosomal cathepsins could induce vascular remodeling and AAA formation by regulating vascular inflammation, medial smooth muscle cell apoptosis, neovascularization, and protease expression. Thus, cathepsins are expected to become a new therapeutic target for AAA treatment.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Remodeling-related Cardiovascular Diseases, Beijing An Zhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing, 100029 China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Remodeling-related Cardiovascular Diseases, Beijing An Zhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing, 100029 China.
authors.forename: Chaoshu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Remodeling-related Cardiovascular Diseases, Beijing An Zhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing, 100029 China.
authors.forename: Yanwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qin
keywords: Abdominal aortic aneurysm; Cathepsins; Extracellular matrix