Investigation of the pathogenesis of inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm

• Project/Area Number: 26670618
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cardiovascular surgery
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi University
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIMURA Koichi 山口大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授(特命) (00322248)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
• Keywords: 炎症性腹部大動脈瘤

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm is a chronic inflammatory disease causing dilatation and thickening of the aortic wall and fibrosis of the adjacent retroperitoneum. Mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm remain largely unknown. In this study, we developed a mouse model of inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm by intraperitoneal administration of Candida albicans cell wall extract (CAWE). We also demonstrated that pharmacologic inhibition of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) significantly prevented the development of the CAWE-induced aneurysm in mice. Our findings suggest that bacteria-derived components, such as CAWE, may trigger inflammatory reactions in the aorta through JNK activation, subsequently resulting in development of the aneurysm.