title: Cadmium and cardiovascular diseases: cell biology, pathophysiology, and epidemiological relevance.
abstract: Today cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the killer number one world wide. In 2004 an estimated 17.1 million people died due to CVDs and this number will further increase to an estimated 23.6 million by 2030. Importantly, currently known risk factors, like hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia, can only be made responsible for about 50-75% of all CVDs, highlighting the urgent need to search for and define new CVD risk factors. Cadmium (Cd) was shown to have the potential to serve as one such novel risk factor, as it was demonstrated-in vitro, in animal studies, and in human studies-that Cd causes atherosclerosis (the basis of most CVDs). Herein, we discuss the molecular and cellular biological effects of Cd in the cardiovascular system; we present concepts on the pathophysiology of Cd-caused atherosclerosis, and provide data that indicate an epidemiological relevance of Cd as a risk factor for CVDs.
authors.affiliation: Cardiothoracic Surgery, Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Messner
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bernhard
mesh_terms: D001693:Biological Transport, Active; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002104:Cadmium / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D012307:Risk Factors; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium