Reducing Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Progression by Blocking Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Depends on Thrombus Formation

•For AAA, surgical repair remains the only treatment to date, with a lack of drug options for management of aneurysm progression or rupture risk.•NETs are implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, including AAA, atherosclerosis, and thrombosis. The present study compared the therapeutic potential of distinct NET inhibitors on murine AAA by targeting major upstream or downstream effector molecules of NET formation.•NET inhibition, in particular blockade of upstream NET mediators, prevented progression of AngII-induced aneurysms, in which treatment success was dependent on thrombus formation, which is a frequent feature of established human disease.•These findings may also be of relevance to other NET-driven conditions and the current efforts to develop NET-targeting drugs for clinical application.