Evidence Hub

Osteomodulin attenuates smooth muscle cell osteogenic transition in vascular calcification

Skenteris NT, Seime T, Witasp A, Karlöf E, Wasilewski GB, Heuschkel MA, Jaminon AMG, Oduor L et al.

Clinical and translational medicine, 2022

Abstract

RATIONALE: Vascular calcification is a prominent feature of late-stage diabetes, renal and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and has been linked to adverse events. Recent studies in patients reported that plasma levels of osteomodulin (OMD), a proteoglycan involved in bone mineralisation, associate with diabetes and CVD. We hypothesised that OMD could be implicated in these diseases via vascular calcification as a common underlying factor and aimed to investigate its role in this context.

METHODS AND RESULTS: In patients with chronic kidney disease, plasma OMD levels correlated with markers of inflammation and bone turnover, with the protein present in calcified arterial media. Plasma OMD also associated with cardiac calcification and the protein was detected in calcified valve leaflets by immunohistochemistry. In patients with carotid atherosclerosis, circulating OMD was increased in association with plaque calcification as assessed by computed tomography. Transcriptomic and proteomic data showed that OMD was upregulated in atherosclerotic compared to control arteries, particularly in calcified plaques, where OMD expression correlated positively with markers of smooth muscle cells (SMCs), osteoblasts and glycoproteins. Immunostaining confirmed that OMD was abundantly present in calcified plaques, localised to extracellular matrix and regions rich in α-SMA+ cells. In vivo, OMD was enriched in SMCs around calcified nodules in aortic media of nephrectomised rats and in plaques…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free