A study by Zhou et al. (2019) on a mouse model with induced thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD) showed that rapamycin significantly reduced TAAD formation, elastic fiber destruction, and inhibited MMP-9 and MMP-2 synthesis to maintain the structure of the aortic wall. Here, MMP9 is linked to Rare disease with thoracic aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection.