New Strategy to Reverse Blood Vessel Calcification.

Research reveals that vascular calcifying progenitor cells in blood vessels can become either osteoblasts (which promote calcium accumulation) or osteoclasts (which reverse calcium accumulation), and that a drug can push these cells towards becoming osteoclasts instead of osteoblasts. Progenitor cells expressing both Sca-1 and PDGFRα cell surface proteins could differentiate into osteoblasts, while cells expressing only Sca-1 could differentiate into osteoblasts or osteoclasts. PPARγ agonists could coax progenitor cells that express only Sca-1 to become osteoclast-like, while they could not influence progenitors expressing both proteins. The PLOS Biology findings suggest new targets for reversing calcium accumulation in blood vessels.