Conversely, aortic sclerostin expression was shown to be downregulated in a murine model of abdominal aortic aneurysm, while transgenic overexpression or exogenous administration of sclerostin was demonstrated to mitigate the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm and atherosclerosis. The gene discussed is SOST; the disease is abdominal aortic aneurysm.