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. The gene discussed is MMP2; the disease is thoracic aortic aneurysm.