Analysis of SMAD3 in 99 patients with thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections and Marfan-like features revealed a heterozygous SMAD3 mutation, as well as another 5 novel SMAD3 mutations in 5 additional families with aneurysms-osteoarthritis syndrome [42,43]. Here, SMAD3 is linked to thoracic aortic aneurysm.