Protective role of the matricellular protein CCN3 in abdominal aortic aneurysm

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are a serious medical condition occurring in up to 9% of humans older than 65 years (1). It can end up deadly due to aortic rupture (2), accounting in the United States for about 15,000 deaths annually (3). Understanding the mechanism of AAA formation and progression, and elaboration of clinical strategies to effectively slow down the progression of AAA, are of utmost importance (4,5)