- Vascular calcification, mineral deposits on blood vessel walls, are common in chronic kidney disease patients.
- Researchers say small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) —small, enclosed structures outside cells — may play a role in vascular calcification developing.
- This occurs through a signaling pathway called VEGFA.
- Treatment of people with chronic kidney disease with VEGFA inhibitors may lessen associated vascular calcification.
Chronic kidney disease is a condition where the kidneys are damaged and can’t filter blood normally.
Diabetes and high blood pressure are responsible for two-thirds of chronic kidney disease cases, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
In the United States, 15% of people, or 37 million people, have chronic kidney disease, according to the
Symptoms of kidney disease can include:
- feeling more tired than normal
- a poor appetite
- muscle cramping at night
- swollen feet and ankles
- puffiness around eyes, especially in the morning
- dry, itchy skin
- need to urinate more frequently
People with chronic kidney disease have a high risk of developing heart disease.
“Most folks that have kidney disease usually die not from kidney disease but from cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Paul Welling, a professor of medicine, nephrology, and physiology at John Hopkins Medicine in Maryland, told Medical News Today.
The mechanisms behind increased cardiovascular risk in people with chronic kidney disease are not completely understood.
“It isn’t like we’re walking into this blind,” said Welling. “There are known pathways, but they probably don’t fully explain all of the complex biology.”
Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) believe they have uncovered a possible link between cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease.
Their
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