Colchicine reduces aortic dissection and aneurysm formation in mice by inhibiting the IL-17A/RA-MAPK pathway

Colchicine is a traditional plant alkaloid extracted from the seeds and bulbs of the colchicum plant, exhibiting potent anti-inflammatory effects. It is currently widely used clinically for the acute treatment of gouty arthritis. Aortic dissection is a life-threatening acute aortic syndrome whose pathogenesis remains incompletely elucidated; however, the prevailing view holds that phenotypic transformation of aortic smooth muscle cells and inflammatory responses play crucial roles. Colchicine has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties; however, its precise mechanism of action in aortic dissection remains unclear. This study investigated colchicine's role in aortic dissection by establishing a mouse aortic dissection/aneurysm model and employing rat primary smooth muscle cells in in vitro experiments. Our findings reveal that colchicine effectively reduces the incidence of aortic dissection, mitigates aortic inflammation in mice, and inhibits aortic smooth muscle cell phenotypic conversion. Transcriptomic sequencing results indicate the IL17A/17RA pathway plays a pivotal role in these processes, suggesting a novel potential pathway for the pathogenesis of aortic dissection and offering a new therapeutic candidate.