Insights into the mechanism of vascular calcification

Vascular calcification is common and clinically significant in atherosclero sis and heart failure. It was long believed to be an end-stage process of " passive" mineral precipitation. However, there is now a growing awareness t hat vascular calcification is a biologically regulated phenomenon. It has m any similarities to bone formation, and ectopic bone is a well-documented p art of vascular calcification. This implies that alterations in vascular ce ll differentiation, extensive or localized, are an integral part of vascula r calcification. Matrix gamma -carboxylated glutamate (GLA) protein (MGP)-d eficient 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 protei ns-potent inducers of cartilage and bone. (C) 2001 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.