SLC44A2 and aortic aneurysm: We then detected these 5 genes in primary mouse aortic smooth muscle cells (MASMCs) from the whole aortas of saline-infused mice or angiotensin II–infused (Ang II–infused) aortic aneurysm mouse models via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and found that SLC44A2 was the most abundant and increased with the highest fold change in MASMCs from Ang II–infused apolipoprotein E–knockout (Apoe–/–) mice (Supplemental Figure 1A; supplemental material available online with this article; https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI173690DS1).