Thoracic aortic dissection: genes, molecules, and the knife.

In the past, the aortic extracellular matrix (ECM) was viewed primarily as a passive structural framework, and aortic disease was equated solely with a mechanical failure of this framework. Because of our increasing understanding of aortic cellular and molecular biology, we now know that aortic disease is a manifestation of cellular dysfunction, irregular signaling, and excessive proteolysis. Mutations and variants involving several genes that...