CD31 and α-SMA levels were not significantly affected, whereas CD146 mRNA underwent a drastic decrease (2.3 ± 0.7 Matrigel AAA-MSC control and 0.8 ± 0.01 Matrigel AAA-MSC VEGF induced vs 30 ± 3.7 and 32.2 ± 6.3 in AAA-MSC control and AAA-MSC VEGF induced, respectively; p < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post test) (Additional file 1: Figure S1). This evidence concerns the gene ACTA1 and triple-A syndrome.