Rgs5 has been reported to be a specific marker of peripheral arterial smooth muscle, is downregulated in atherosclerosis, and acts to inhibit SMC proliferation and neointimal formation (Daniel et al, 2016; Li et al, 2004), Fn1 is a putative CAD GWAS gene thought to be protective in CAD and loss of function has been implicated in thoracic aortic aneurysm (Paloschi et al, 2011; Soubeyrand et al, 2022), and Ccdc3 has been found to inhibit TNFα mediated vascular inflammation (Azad et al, 2014). Here, CCDC3 is linked to thoracic aortic aneurysm.