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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2005;25:1851.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Vascular Biology

Identification and Characterization of Vascular Calcification–Associated Factor, a Novel Gene Upregulated During Vascular Calcification In Vitro and In Vivo

M. Yvonne Alexander; Fiona L. Wilkinson; John Paul Kirton; Claire Farrington Rock; Georgina D.M. Collett; Maria Jeziorska; J. Vincent Smyth; Anthony M. Heagerty; Ann E. Canfield

From the Cardiovascular Research Group, Department of Cardiac and Endocrine Science (M.Y.A., F.L.W., J.P.K., G.D.M.C., A.M.H., A.E.C.); Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research (J.P.K., C.F.R., G.D.M.C., A.E.C.); Department of Laboratory and Regenerative Medicine (M.J.); and Department of Vascular Surgery (J.V.S.), University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

Correspondence to Dr M. Yvonne Alexander, University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. E-mail yvonne.alexander{at}manchester.ac.uk

Objective— Vascular calcification, with its increasing clinical sequelae, presents an important and unresolved dilemma in cardiac and vascular practice. We aimed to identify molecules involved in this process to develop strategies for treatment or prevention.

Methods and Results— Using subtractive hybridization, a novel cDNA, designated vascular calcification–associated factor (VCAF), has been isolated from a bovine retinal pericyte cDNA library generated during the differentiation and mineralization of these cells in vitro. RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends was used to compile the 740-bp bovine cDNA sequence. Database searching reveals that VCAF has novel nucleotide/amino acid sequences. RNA analysis confirms that VCAF is upregulated in mineralized pericytes and is present in human calcified arteries but not noncalcified arteries. Protein analysis using a VCAF antibody confirms the presence of an 18-kDa protein in calcified nodules but not in confluent pericytes. Adenoviral antisense VCAF gene delivery reduces VCAF protein levels and accelerates pericyte differentiation compared with controls.

Conclusion— We demonstrate the isolation of a novel gene, VCAF, which is upregulated during vascular calcification in vitro and in vivo. Antisense VCAF gene delivery accelerates pericyte differentiation, implicating a role for VCAF in this clinically significant pathological process.

Vascular calcification presents an important and unresolved dilemma in the clinic. We aim to identify molecules involved in this process to develop strategies for treatment. We isolated a novel cDNA (VCAF) from mineralized pericytes and demonstrate its association with calcification in vitro and in vivo.

Key Words: atherosclerosis • genes • pericytes • calcification • novel gene

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