血管钙化的表观遗传调控

血管钙化是慢性肾病、糖尿病、高血压和动脉粥样硬化等疾病共同存在的血管病变,其是上述疾病患者心血管事件显著上升的重要危险因素。目前尚无有效药物可以预防或者逆转血管钙化。既往研究表明,血管钙化是一个主动的、可调控的、细胞介导的病理过程,高度类似于骨发生和骨代谢。血管平滑肌细胞向成骨样细胞转分化是血管钙化发生的关键机制。目前的研究表明,多种表观遗传调控途径参与血管钙化的病理进程。本文主要从DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和非编码RNA这三个层面综述血管钙化的表观遗传调控机制。靶向表观遗传调控因子有望为防治血管钙化提供新的策略。

Epigenetic regulation of vascular calcification

Vascular calcification is a common clinical complication in patients with chronic kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerosis. It is a significant risk factor for future cardiovascular events in these patients. There are currently no effective medications to slow or reverse the progression of vascular calcification. It has been previously reported that vascular calcification is an actively cellular-mediated pathological process, which shares many similarities to that of bone formation and bone metabolisms. The osteogenic transition of vascular smooth muscle cells plays an important role in vascular calcification. Recently, epigenetic regulators have emerged as key mediators of vascular calcification. This review summarizes our current understanding of epigenetic regulators such as DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNAs in the pathogenesis of vascular calcification. Targeting epigenetic regulators may represent a novel strategy to treat vascular calcification.