Insights into the mechanism of vascular calcification.
Vascular calcification is common and clinically significant in atherosclerosis and heart failure. It was long believed to be an end-stage process of "passive" mineral precipitation. However, there is now a growing awareness that vascular calcification is a biologically regulated phenomenon. It has many similarities to bone formation, and ectopic bone is a well-documented part of vascular calcification. This implies that alterations in vascular cell differentiation, extensive or localized, are an integral part of vascular calcification. Matrix gamma-carboxylated glutamate (GLA) protein (MGP)-deficient mice develop extensive vascular calcification with replacement of the media by progressively calcifying cartilage. A potential mechanism that explains these findings is MGP interference with bone morphogenetic proteins-potent inducers of cartilage and bone.
Boström
K
K
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1679, USA. kbostrom@mednet.ucla.edu
D000818:Animals; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D000097568:Matrix Gla Protein
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D000097568:Matrix Gla Protein