Natural and non-natural antioxidative compounds: potential candidates for treatment of vascular calcification

Chia-Ter Chao; Hsiang-Yuan Yeh; You-Tien Tsai; Pei-Huan Chuang; Tzu-Hang Yuan; Jenq-Wen Huang; Huei-Wen Chen

doi:10.1038/s41420-019-0225-z

Natural and non-natural antioxidative compounds: potential candidates for treatment of vascular calcification

Cell Death Discov. 2019 Nov 13:5:145. doi: 10.1038/s41420-019-0225-z. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Chia-Ter Chao^{1

2

3}, Hsiang-Yuan Yeh⁴, You-Tien Tsai³, Pei-Huan Chuang³, Tzu-Hang Yuan³, Jenq-Wen Huang⁵, Huei-Wen Chen³

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital BeiHu Branch, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² 2Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ 3Graduate Institute of Toxicology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ 4School of Big Data Management, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ 5Nephrology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Vascular calcification (VC) is highly prevalent in patients with advanced age, or those with chronic kidney disease and diabetes, accounting for substantial global cardiovascular burden. The pathophysiology of VC involves active mineral deposition by transdifferentiated vascular smooth muscle cells exhibiting osteoblast-like behavior, building upon cores with or without apoptotic bodies. Oxidative stress drives the progression of the cellular phenotypic switch and calcium deposition in the vascular wall. In this review, we discuss potential compounds that shield these cells from the detrimental influences of reactive oxygen species as promising treatment options for VC. A comprehensive summary of the current literature regarding antioxidants for VC is important, as no effective therapy is currently available for this disease. We systematically searched through the existing literature to identify original articles investigating traditional antioxidants and novel compounds with antioxidant properties with regard to their effectiveness against VC in experimental or clinical settings. We uncovered 36 compounds with antioxidant properties against VC pathology, involving mechanisms such as suppression of NADPH oxidase, BMP-2, and Wnt/β-catenin; anti-inflammation; and activation of Nrf2 pathways. Only two compounds have been tested clinically. These findings suggest that a considerable opportunity exists to harness these antioxidants for therapeutic use for VC. In order to achieve this goal, more translational studies are needed.

Keywords: Calcification; Cell biology.

Publication types

Review