{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,15]],"date-time":"2026-01-15T01:23:55Z","timestamp":1768440235021,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,25]],"date-time":"2022-04-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1650844800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Medical-Scientific Fund of the Mayor of Vienna","award":["AP15115"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AP15115"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A hallmark of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) is the degenerative remodeling of aortic wall, which leads to progressive aortic dilatation and resulting in an increased risk for aortic dissection or rupture. Telocytes (TCs), a distinct type of interstitial cells described in many tissues and organs, were recently observed in the aortic wall, and studies showed the potential regulation of smooth muscle cell (SMC) homeostasis by TC-released shed vesicles. The purpose of the present work was to study the functions of TCs in medial degeneration of TAA. During aneurysmal formation an increase of aortic TCs was identified in human surgical specimens of TAA-patients, compared to healthy thoracic aortic (HTA)-tissue. We found the presence of epithelial progenitor cells in the adventitial layer, which showed increased infiltration in TAA samples. For functional analysis, HTA- and TAA-telocytes were isolated, characterized, and compared by their protein levels, mRNA- and miRNA-expression profiles. We detected TC and TC-released exosomes near SMCs. TAA-TC-exosomes showed a significant increase of the SMC-related dedifferentiation markers KLF-4-, VEGF-A-, and PDGF-A-protein levels, as well as miRNA-expression levels of miR-146a, miR-221 and miR-222. SMCs treated with TAA-TC-exosomes developed a dedifferentiation-phenotype. In conclusion, the study shows for the first time that TCs are involved in development of TAA and could play a crucial role in SMC phenotype switching by release of extracellular vesicles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23094730","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,25]],"date-time":"2022-04-25T21:16:28Z","timestamp":1650921388000},"page":"4730","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["The Role of Telocytes and Telocyte-Derived Exosomes in the Development of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3373-8194","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"Aschacher","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Floridsdorf and Karl Landsteiner Institute for Cardio-Vascular Research, 1210 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Department of Cardiac Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Olivia","family":"Aschacher","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Katy","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7200-4145","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Florian K.","family":"Enzmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Vascular Surgery, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eva","family":"Eichmair","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiac Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bernhard","family":"Winkler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Floridsdorf and Karl Landsteiner Institute for Cardio-Vascular Research, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zsuzsanna","family":"Arnold","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Floridsdorf and Karl Landsteiner Institute for Cardio-Vascular Research, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Felix","family":"Nagel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Research, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4641-7202","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bruno K.","family":"Podesser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Research, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Mitterbauer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8331-6497","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Barbara","family":"Messner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiac Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"Grabenw\u00f6ger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Floridsdorf and Karl Landsteiner Institute for Cardio-Vascular Research, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7257-110X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"G\u00fcnther","family":"Laufer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiac Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marek P.","family":"Ehrlich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiac Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8529-1166","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Bergmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"771","DOI":"10.1038\/nrcardio.2009.191","article-title":"Cellular and molecular mechanisms of thoracic aortic aneurysms","volume":"6","author":"Yacoub","year":"2009","journal-title":"Nat. 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