The possible role of CA IX in cardiovascular diseases associated with hypoxia was also recently pointed out by our group, when we detected the CA IX protein in the tissue (in 12 of 15 samples) and sCA IX in the plasma (in 13 of 15 samples) of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm [59]. This evidence concerns the gene CA9 and abdominal aortic aneurysm.