Long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) is associated with peritoneal membrane remodeling. This includes changes in peritoneal vasculature, which may ultimately lead to inadequate solute and water removal and treatment failure. The potential cause of such alterations is chronic inflammation induced by repeated episodes of infectious peritonitis and/or exposure to bioincompatible PD fluids. While these factors may jeopardize the peritoneal membrane integrity, it is not clear why adverse peritoneal remodeling develops only in some PD patients. Increasing evidence points to the differences that occur between patients in response to the same invading microorganism and/or the differences in the course of inflammatory reaction triggered by different species. Such differences may be related to the involvement of different inflammatory mediators. Here, we discuss the potential role of IL-17 in these processes with emphasis on its impact on peritoneal mesothelial cells and peritoneal vascularity.
Keywords: IL-17; VEGF; angiogenesis; fibrosis; inflammation; peritoneal dialysis; peritonitis.