Osteopontin in Vascular Disease.

Osteopontin in Vascular Disease. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2019 Feb 07;:ATVBAHA118311577 Authors: Lok ZSY, Lyle AN Abstract Inflammatory cytokines are necessary for an acute response to injury and the progressive healing process. However, when this acute response does not resolve and becomes chronic, the same proteins that once promoted healing then contribute to chronic inflammatory pathologies, such as atherosclerosis. OPN (Osteopontin) is a secreted matricellular cytokine that signals through integrin and CD44 receptors, is highly upregulated in acute and chronic inflammatory settings, and has been implicated in physiological and pathophysiologic processes. Evidence from the literature suggests that OPN may fit within the Goldilocks paradigm with respect to cardiovascular disease, where acute increases are protective, attenuate vascular calcification, and promote postischemic neovascularization. In contrast, chronic increases in OPN are clinically associated with an increased risk for a major adverse cardiovascular event, and OPN expression is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease independent of traditional risk factors. With the recent finding that humans express multiple OPN isoforms as the result of alternative splicing and that these isoforms have distinct biologic functions, future studies are required to determine what OPN isoform(s) are expressed in the setting of vascular disease and what role each of these iso...
Source: Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol Source Type: research