Browsing by Subject "Vascular Calcification"

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    Fibroblast growth factor 23 is not associated with and does not induce arterial calcification.
    (Kidney international, 2013-06) Scialla, Julia J; Lau, Wei Ling; Reilly, Muredach P; Isakova, Tamara; Yang, Hsueh-Ying; Crouthamel, Matthew H; Chavkin, Nicholas W; Rahman, Mahboob; Wahl, Patricia; Amaral, Ansel P; Hamano, Takayuki; Master, Stephen R; Nessel, Lisa; Chai, Boyang; Xie, Dawei; Kallem, Radhakrishna R; Chen, Jing; Lash, James P; Kusek, John W; Budoff, Matthew J; Giachelli, Cecilia M; Wolf, Myles; Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort Study Investigators
    Elevated fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is associated with cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease. As a potential mediating mechanism, FGF23 induces left ventricular hypertrophy; however, its role in arterial calcification is less clear. In order to study this, we quantified coronary artery and thoracic aorta calcium by computed tomography in 1501 patients from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study within a median of 376 days (interquartile range 331-420 days) of baseline. Baseline plasma FGF23 was not associated with the prevalence or severity of coronary artery calcium after multivariable adjustment. In contrast, higher serum phosphate levels were associated with prevalence and severity of coronary artery calcium, even after adjustment for FGF23. Neither FGF23 nor serum phosphate were consistently associated with thoracic aorta calcium. We could not detect mRNA expression of FGF23 or its coreceptor, klotho, in human or mouse vascular smooth muscle cells, or normal or calcified mouse aorta. Whereas elevated phosphate concentrations induced calcification in vitro, FGF23 had no effect on phosphate uptake or phosphate-induced calcification regardless of phosphate concentration or even in the presence of soluble klotho. Thus, in contrast to serum phosphate, FGF23 is not associated with arterial calcification and does not promote calcification experimentally. Hence, phosphate and FGF23 promote cardiovascular disease through distinct mechanisms.
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    Fibroblast growth factor23 is associated with axonal integrity and neural network architecture in the human frontal lobes.
    (PloS one, 2018-01) Marebwa, Barbara K; Adams, Robert J; Magwood, Gayenell S; Kindy, Mark; Wilmskoetter, Janina; Wolf, Myles; Bonilha, Leonardo
    Elevated levels of FGF23 in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with adverse health outcomes, such as increased mortality, large vessel disease, and reduced white matter volume, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Apart from the well-known link between cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, especially diabetes and hypertension, and cerebrovascular damage, elevated FGF23 is also postulated to be associated with cerebrovascular damage independently of CKD. Elevated FGF23 predisposes to vascular calcification and is associated with vascular stiffness and endothelial dysfunction in the general population with normal renal function. These factors may lead to microangiopathic changes in the brain, cumulative ischemia, and eventually to the loss of white matter fibers. The relationship between FGF23 and brain integrity in individuals without CKD has hitherto not been investigated. In this study, we aimed to determine the association between FGF23, and white matter integrity in a cohort of 50 participants with varying degrees of CV risk burden, using high resolution structural human brain connectomes constructed from MRI diffusion images. We observed that increased FGF23 was associated with axonal loss in the frontal lobe, leading to a fragmentation of white matter network organization. This study provides the first description of the relationship between elevated levels of FGF23, white matter integrity, and brain health. We suggest a synergistic interaction of CV risk factors and FGF23 as a potentially novel determinant of brain health.