Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 20, Issue 37, 2014

Our society faces a growing burden of atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis, diseases that result from dysregulated lipid and mineral metabolisms. Atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis lead to increased acute cardiovascular events. A number of risk factors, including hypercholesterolemia, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus and endstage renal diseases, have been found to contribute to acceleration of vascular calcificati Read More

Mineralization of bone and tooth extracellular matrix (ECM) is a physiologic process, while soft tissue mineralization, also known as ectopic mineralization (calcification), is a pathologic condition. Vascular calcification is common in aging and also in a number of genetic and metabolic disorders. The calcific deposits in arteries complicate the prognosis and increase the morbidity in diseases such as atherosclerosis, diab Read More

Arterial calcification (AC) is a hallmark of many serious diseases, including atherosclerosis, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes. AC may also develop as a side-effect of therapy with anticoagulants, such as warfarin which is widely used for prophylaxis of thrombosis. In our studies, we established the relation between warfarin-induced AC and activation of enzyme transglutaminase 2 (TG2) and β-catenin signaling. We sh Read More

Matrix vesicle (MV)-mediated mineralization is important for bone ossification. However, under certain circumstances such as atherosclerosis, mineralization may occur in the arterial wall. Bone-type tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) hydrolyzes inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) and generates inorganic phosphate (Pi), which is essential for MV-mediated hydroxyapatite formation. MVs contain another phosphatase Read More

In patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), vascular calcification is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of vascular calcification increases as glomerular filtration rate (GFR) declines and calcification occurs years earlier in CKD patients than in the general population. The mechanisms of vascular calcification in CKD patients are complex and not completely understood but likely involve non-t Read More

Traditionally abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) has received less intensive study than coronary artery calcification. The widespread use of abdominal imaging has however encouraged recent investigation of this problem. Human association studies suggest that older age, chronic kidney disease and osteoporosis are the most important risk factors for AAC. AAC severity has been consistently associated with death and car Read More

In recent years, mechanisms of arterial calcifications are beginning to be elucidated. Arterial calcification is now considered as an actively regulated process resembling osteogenesis within the arterial wall orchestrated by a number of systemic or constitutively expressed mediators. Genetic studies of rare monogenic human disorders and studies of naturally occurring or mutant mouse models have identified specific i Read More

Receptor activator of nuclear factor-ΚB ligand (RANKL) is a member of the tumour necrosis factor family important in bone remodelling. Recent evidence suggest that calcification in the vessel wall is equivalent to mechanisms mediating bone formation. This review highlights the role of RANKL in vascular arterial calcification. Here, the relationship between RANKL, osteoprotegerin (OPG) and tumour necrosis factor-relate Read More

The OPG/RANK/RANKL axis is now recognized as a master regulator of bone remodeling, controlling osteoclastapos;s maturation and extracellular matrix calcification. Nevertheless, a number of clinical and basic science studies conducted in the last few years demonstrated that the triad could be also involved in several physiological and pathological processes outside the bone tissue. In particular, evidences have been collected Read More

Medial artery calcification (MAC) is a characteristic feature of diabetes. MAC represents a concentric calcification that proceeds via matrix vesicle-nucleated mineralization accompanied with apatitic calcium phosphate deposits in the arterial tunica media in the absence of atheroma and neointima. Multiple factors contribute to the induction and progression of diabetic MAC including inflammation, oxidative stress, adiposit Read More

The phenomenon of blood serum atherogenicity was described as the ability of human serum to induce lipid accumulation in cultured cells. The results of recent two-year prospective study in asymptomatic men provided the evidence for association between the changes in serum atherogenicity and dynamics of carotid intima-media thickness progression. The present study was undertaken to test the hypothesis th Read More

Vascular calcification is the deposition of calcium-phosphate salts in the form of hydroxyapatite within the arterial wall. This is a finely regulated process to such an extent that it shares some mechanisms with endochondral and membranous embryonic ossification. Current theories describe vascular calcification as the imbalance between mechanisms, which promote calcification and those that inhibit it. Canonical cellular pla Read More

Neuroinflammation is a well-orchestrated, dynamic, multicellular process playing a major role in neurodegenerative disorders. The microglia which make up the innate immune system of the central nervous system are key cellular mediators of neuroinflammatory processes. In normal condition they exert a protective function, providing tissue repair by releasing anti-inflammatory cytokines and neurotrophic factors. Upon neuron Read More

Objectives: There are two major forms of vitamin D, vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). We studied the effect of the different vitamin D fractions (D3/D2) on arterial wall properties in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Methods: We included 252 subjects with CAD. Endothelial function was evaluated by flow mediated dilation (FMD). Carotid femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured as a Read More