Table 3.
Molecular mechanisms of VSMCs phenotypic switching in Aortic aneurysm.
| Protein/RNA | Animal Model | Downstream Molecule/ Signaling Pathway |
Promotes (+)/ Inhibits (−) VSMCs Phenotypic Switching |
VSMCs Differentiation Markers |
VSMCs Dedifferentiation/ Transdifferentiation Markers |
Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legumain | Mice | Mice model of BAPN-induced TAD | Integrin αvβ3 | + | SM22α SMMHC CNN1 |
[71] | |
| Cysteine and histidine-rich domain containing 1 (CircChordc1) |
Mice | Mice model of angiotensin (Ang) II- and CaCl2-induced AAA | Annexin A2 and glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) | − | SM22α CNN1 |
Vimentin OPN |
[72] |
| MicroRNA-23b | Mice | Mice model of AngII-induced AAA | FoxO4 | − | α-SMA SM22α CNN1 |
[68] | |
| Fcγ receptor | Mice | Mice model of aortic perfusion of elastase from porcine pancreas induced AAA | + | α-SMA SM22α |
KLF4 | [73] | |
| Cytokine signaling-1 (SOCS1) | Mice | Mice model of elastase-induced AAA | JAK/STAT | − | α-SMA SM22α CNN1 |
KLF4 | [74] |
| Anxa1 | Mice | Mice model of AngII-induced AAD | JunB/MYL9 | − | α-SMA SMMHC SM22α CNN1 |
[75] | |
| 5’-tiRNA-Cys-GCA | Mice | Mice model of intraperitoneal injection of AngII combined with intraperitoneal injection of BAPN induced AAA | STAT4 | − | α-SMA SMMHC CNN1 |
[76] | |
| Nuclear receptor corepressor1 (NCOR1) | Mice | Mice model of angiotensin (Ang) II | FoxO3a NFAT5 ATF3 |
− | α-SMA SMMHC CNN1 |
[77] | |
α-SMA: α-smooth muscle actin. SMMHC: smooth muscle myosin heavy chain. SM22α: smooth muscle protein 22-α. CNN1: calponin 1. OPN: osteopontin. JAK: janus kinase. STAT: signal transducer and activator of transcription. JunB: jun. B proto-oncogene. MYL9: myosin light chain 9. FoxO3a: forkhead box o3a. FoxO4: forkhead box o4. NFAT5: nuclear factor of activated t cells 5. ATF3: activating transcription factor 3. KLF4: krüppel-like factor 4. TAD: thoracic aortic dissection. AAA: abdominal aortic aneurysm. AAD: acute aortic dissection.