Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Jul;39(7):1351-1368.
doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.119.312787. Epub 2019 May 30.

Role of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotypic Switching and Calcification in Aortic Aneurysm Formation

Affiliations
Free article
Review

Role of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotypic Switching and Calcification in Aortic Aneurysm Formation

Ploingarm Petsophonsakul et al. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2019 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

Aortic aneurysm is a vascular disease whereby the ECM (extracellular matrix) of a blood vessel degenerates, leading to dilation and eventually vessel wall rupture. Recently, it was shown that calcification of the vessel wall is involved in both the initiation and progression of aneurysms. Changes in aortic wall structure that lead to aneurysm formation and vascular calcification are actively mediated by vascular smooth muscle cells. Vascular smooth muscle cells in a healthy vessel wall are termed contractile as they maintain vascular tone and remain quiescent. However, in pathological conditions they can dedifferentiate into a synthetic phenotype, whereby they secrete extracellular vesicles, proliferate, and migrate to repair injury. This process is called phenotypic switching and is often the first step in vascular pathology. Additionally, healthy vascular smooth muscle cells synthesize VKDPs (vitamin K-dependent proteins), which are involved in inhibition of vascular calcification. The metabolism of these proteins is known to be disrupted in vascular pathologies. In this review, we summarize the current literature on vascular smooth muscle cell phenotypic switching and vascular calcification in relation to aneurysm. Moreover, we address the role of vitamin K and VKDPs that are involved in vascular calcification and aneurysm. Visual Overview- An online visual overview is available for this article.

Keywords: aortic aneurysm; blood vessels; extracellular matrix; phenotypic switching; vascular calcification; vascular smooth muscle cell; vitamin K.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources