Calcification articles from across Nature Portfolio

Achieving targeted drug delivery for calcified aortic valve is challenging. Here, the authors find that protease activated receptor 2 (PAR2) is up-regulated on calcified valves and develop a magnetic nanocarrier functionalized with PAR2-targeting peptide for dual-active drug delivery.

de Vries, Conomos, Singh and Nicholson et al. identify two additional loci associated with coronary artery calcification (ARSE and MMP16) via a genome-wide association study in 22,400 participants from multiple ancestral groups and prove that ARSE is a mediator of vascular smooth muscle cell calcification and phenotype switching.

Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a strong predictor of coronary artery disease. A genome-wide association study of CAC in diverse populations, including 22,400 participants, identifies two previously unrecognized loci associated with CAC and provides insights into the underlying molecular mechanism of CAC.

A new study identifies the genetic locus encoding the histone deacetylase HDAC9 as a risk locus associated with calcification of the abdominal aorta and reveals that HDAC9 promotes the development of vascular calcification by modulating the phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells.

The early stages of the formation of calcific nodules in the aortic valve can be detected by two-photon excited fluorescence microscopy.

A recent study reports that coronary artery calcification (CAC) predicts the risk of heart failure, myocardial infarction and stroke in patients with moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD). This finding suggests that even in CKD, CAC is a marker of cardiovascular risk rather than a benign indicator of vessel healing and stability.