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Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a genetic connective tissue disorder, in which aortic rupture is the major cause of death. MFS patients with an aortic diameter below the advised limit for prophylactic surgery (<5cm) may unexpectedly experience an aortic dissection or rupture, despite yearly monitoring. Hence, there is a clear need for improved prognostic markers to predict such aortic events. We hypothesize that elastin fragments play a causal role in aortic calcification in MFS and that microcalcification serves as a novel marker for aortic disease severity. To address this hypothesis, we analyzed MFS patient and mouse aortas. MFS patient aortic tissue showed enhanced microcalcification in areas with extensive elastic lamina fragmentation in the media. A causal relationship between medial injury and microcalcification was revealed by studies in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs); elastin peptides were shown to …