The ascending thoracic aorta is designed to withstand biomechanical forces from pulsatile blood. Thoracic aortic aneurysms and acute aortic dissections (TAADs) occur as a result of genetically triggered defects in aortic structure and a dysfunctional response to these forces. Here, we describe mutations in the forkhead transcription factor
Shao-Qing Kuang, Olga Medina-Martinez, Dong-chuan Guo, Limin Gong, Ellen S. Regalado, Corey L. Reynolds, Catherine Boileau, Guillaume Jondeau, Siddharth K. Prakash, Callie S. Kwartler, Lawrence Yang Zhu, Andrew M. Peters, Xue-Yan Duan, National Registry of Genetically Triggered Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms and Cardiovascular Conditions (GenTAC) Investigators, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Grand Opportunity (GO) Exome Sequencing Project (ESP), Michael J. Bamshad, Jay Shendure, Debbie A. Nickerson, Regie L. Santos-Cortez, Xiurong Dong, Suzanne M. Leal, Mark W. Majesky, Eric C. Swindell, Milan Jamrich, Dianna M. Milewicz
Loss of