Aortic aneurysm is characterized as localized degeneration of the aorta leading to advanced weakening and widening of the vessel. While the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined, current studies indicate that the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) may result in extendibility, dilation, and rupture of the vessel. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2014) 38: 238-252 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article A preliminary proteomic evaluation of smooth muscle cells in thoracic aortic aneurysms 1 1,2 1 1 Ceyda AÇILAN AYHAN , Betül BAYKAL , Müge SERHATLI , Ömer KAÇAR , 1 3 1,4 5, Zelal ADIGÜZEL , Serpil TAŞ , Kemal BAYSAL , Ahmet Tarık BAYKAL * 1 Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Institute, TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center, Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey 2 International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, AREA Science Park, Trieste, Italy 3 Turkish Ministry of Health, Kartal Koşuyolu Advanced Training and Research Hospital, Kartal, İstanbul, Turkey 4 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İnciraltı, İzmir, Turkey 5 Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, İstanbul Medipol University, Unkapanı, Fatih, İstanbul, Turkey Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Aortic aneurysm is characterized as localized degeneration of the aorta leading to advanced weakening and widening of the vessel. While the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined, current studies indicate that the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) may result in extendibility, dilation, and rupture of the vessel. Within the aortic wall, SMCs are implicated as key components involved in disease development, as numerous molecular changes have been reported to occur. Most current studies involve either investigation of proteins constituting a group or pathway in SMCs, or analyses of the whole aortic tissue. In order to determine which proteins are important in the development of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs), we performed comparative proteomic analyses using cultured SMCs from TAAs versus controls. Label-free nano LC-MS/ MS analysis of cell extracts resulted in the .
