Role of Matrix Gla Protein in vascular calcification

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23790871
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Circulatory organs internal medicine
• Research Institution: National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute (2012-2013); International University of Health and Welfare (2011)
• Principal Investigator: SUGANO Yasuo 独立行政法人国立循環器病研究センター, 病院, 医長 (00317124)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2013
• Keywords: 血管石灰化 / マトリックス蛋白

Research Abstract

No difference was observed between transgenic and wild-type mice in mortality, phenotypic characteristics (heart, lung, aorta, kidney, liver) as well as pathologic property at 6 weeks after birth. In addition, expression of mRNA and protein levels of GLA were not significantly increased in produced mice.The conclusion was that transgene expression was inactivated in vivo, although they were expressed in vitro.
The promoter was switched to Tie-2, which also provide vascular-specific transgene expression. However, there were some difficulty in detecting extracellular expression of Gla protein, despite ordinary expression of intracellar extract. Special unexpected processing and binding to other proteins in cells might explain this phenomenon.