MicroRNA-29 in Aortic Dilation: Implications for Aneurysm Formation

We compared the aorta of 6-weeks-old mice (young) with 18-months-old mice (old). Using the publicly available tools Sylamer and DIANA-mirExTra, we identified an enrichment for miR-29 binding sites in the 3'UTR of genes downregulated in the aged aortas. We subsequently showed that inhibition of miR-29 in aged mice prevented dilation of the aorta. aortas of 6 week old and 18 month old mice