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Updated: Sep 29, 2025
Calcification of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Imaging of Aortic Calcification and Inflammation
Published on: May 31, 2016
IL-17A promotes vascular calcification in an ex vivo murine aorta culture
Sumie Hiramatsu-Asano1, Tomoyuki Mukai2, Takahiko Akagi1
1Department of Rheumatology, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Okayama, 701-0192, Japan.
Background:
Vascular calcification is characterized by mineral deposition in the vasculature, which is triggered by chronic systemic inflammation, including psoriasis. Psoriasis is an IL-17A-mediated inflammatory skin disease that is associated with exacerbated vascular calcification and high cardiovascular mortality. Although previous studies have shown that IL-17A induces vascular dysfunction in murine psoriasis models, it has not been clarified whether IL-17A induces vascular calcification. In this study, we investigated the potential vascular calcification-inducing effect of IL-17A in an ex vivo culture system.
Methods:
Thoracic and abdominal aortas from mice were cultured in a medium supplemented with inorganic phosphate and were treated with inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-17A). Vascular calcification was determined using micro-computed tomography (CT) and histological analyses.
Results:
IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 did not significantly promote vascular calcification, whereas IL-17A significantly accelerated vascular calcification of the aorta, as indicated by the increased mineralized volume based on micro-CT analysis. Micro-CT and histological analyses also revealed that the promoting effect of IL-17A on vascular calcification was concentration dependent.
Conclusions:
IL-17A significantly promoted vascular calcification in ex vivo cultured aortas, which suggests that this mechanism is involved in the increased risk of cardiovascular events in IL-17A-mediated inflammatory diseases.
