Lost in translation: do animal studies add value to the management of abdominal aortic aneurysms?

The work outlined by Li et al. (1) in their recently published work demonstrated a protective effect of IL-33 in a murine model of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Through a series of elegant experiments, the authors found that both the administration of exogenous IL-33 and overexpression of IL-33 in transgenic mice blunted AAA growth. Two separate models were used in this research. The first consisted of calcium phosphate (CaPO4) induction by applying CaCl2 followed by phosphate buffered saline (PBS) to the infrarenal aorta. Control mice were treated with sodium chloride (NaCl) alone. The second murine model involved the induction of AAA through exposure of the infrarenal aorta to 100% porcine pancreatic elastase versus heat-inactivated elastase in control mice.