| [ Summary ] |
Vascular calcification and aortic valve disease are prevalent disorders that affect patients with diabetes, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease and aged individuals. Recent studies identified a specific trafficking protein, sortilin, as a key player in the formation of calcifying extracellular vesicles secreted by vascular smooth muscle cells. In addition, elevated Lp(a) has been shown to be a risk factor for aortic stenosis (AS)， and a recent genomewide association study (GWAS) showed that the singlenucleotide polymorphisms within the LPA gene were associated with highly elevated Lp(a) levels and with aortic valve calcification. Hypotheses have been proposed that accumulation of oxidized phospholipids (oxPL) as well as apolipoproteins(a) within the intima and valvular tissue contribute to the vascular calcification. Future studies to evaluate whether lowering sortilin or Lp(a) levels will reduce the incidence or progression of AS is warranted |