Collectively, the results strongly suggest that the c.2678-15C>A variant could lead to haploinsufficiency of the FBN1 functional protein and structural connective tissue fragility in MFS complicated by aorta dilation, a finding that further expands on the genetic basis of aortic pathology.
Fibrillin-1 (FBN1) mutations associated with Marfan syndrome lead to an increase in transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) activation in connective tissues resulting in pathogenic changes including aortic dilatation and dissection.
Resveratrol is known to enhance sirtuin-1 activity and to reduce senescence, which prompted us to investigate the effectiveness of resveratrol in inhibition of aortic dilatation in the Fbn1(C1039G/+) MFS mouse model.
Finally, we show that a low level of residual WT FBN1 mRNA accounts for a high risk of ectopia lentis and pectus abnormality and tends to increase the risk of aortic dilatation.
Indeed, 10% of MFS patients were reclassified as ELS or MASS in the absence of aortic dilatation; conversely, 5% were reclassified as MFS in the presence of aortic dilatation.
Mutations in FBN1 are mainly responsible for the Marfan syndrome (MFS), recognized by its pleiotropic clinical features including tall stature and arachnodactyly, aortic dilatation and dissection, and ectopia lentis.
Aortic dilatation/dissection (AD) can occur spontaneously or in association with genetic syndromes, such as Marfan syndrome (MFS; caused by FBN1 mutations), MFS type 2 and Loeys-Dietz syndrome (associated with TGFBR1/TGFBR2 mutations), and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) vascular type (caused by COL3A1 mutations).
However, FBN1 gene mutations are found in an ill-defined group of diseases termed 'type I fibrillinopathies', which are associated with an increased risk of aortic dilatation and dissection.
The risk of aortic dilatation was 8.83 (1.94-13.99) times greater in patients with histologically abnormal aorta and 8.11 (1.93-34.04) times greater in patients with fibrillin-1 "exonic DNA variants."