Molecular Pharmacological Approaches for Treating Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

• Published in: Annals of Vascular Diseases Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 137 - 146
• Main Authors: Miyake, Takashi, Miyake, Tetsuo, Kurashiki, Tomohiro, Morishita, Ryuichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan The Editorial Committee of Annals of Vascular Diseases 25-06-2019; Japanese College of Angiology / The Japanese Society for Vascular Surgery / Japanese Society of Phlebology
• Subjects: abdominal aortic aneurysm; decoy oligodeoxynucleotide; nucleic acid drug; Review; transcription factor; decoy oligodeoxynucleotide; transcription factor; nucleic acid drug; abdominal aortic aneurysm
• ISSN: 1881-641X; 1881-6428
• DOI: 10.3400/avd.ra.18-00076

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is considered to be a potent life-threatening disorder in elderly individuals. Although many patients with a small AAA are detected during routine abdominal screening, there is no effective therapeutic option to prevent the progression or regression of AAA in the clinical setting. Recent advances in molecular biology have led to the identification of several important molecules, including microRNA and transcription factor, in the process of AAA formation. Regulation of these factors using nucleic acid drugs is expected to be a novel therapeutic option for AAA. Nucleic acid drugs can bind to target factors, mRNA, microRNA, and transcription factors in a sequence-specific fashion, resulting in a loss of function of the target molecule at the transcriptional or posttranscriptional level. Of note, inhibition of a transcription factor using a decoy strategy effectively suppresses experimental AAA formation, by regulating the expression of several genes associated with the disease progression. This review focuses on recent advances in molecular therapy of using nucleic acid drugs to treat AAA.