Association between sclerostin levels and vascular outcomes in kidney transplantation patients.

Background: The impact of circulating sclerostin levels on vascular calcification has shown conflicting results depending on the target population and vascular anatomy. This study investigated the associations of sclerostin levels with vascular outcomes in kidney transplant patients.

Methods: In a prospective observational study of the Korean Cohort Study for Outcome in Patients with Kidney Transplantation, 591 patients with serum sclerostin level data prior to transplantation were analyzed.

The association between the vascular endothelial growth factor-to-cancer antigen 125 ratio in peritoneal dialysis effluent and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

We examined peritoneal growth factors, mesothelial mass, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in response to peritoneal exposure to peritoneal dialysate with standard and low concentrations of glucose degradation products (GDPs). We randomized 56 incident continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients to receive either low-GDP (30 patients) or high-GDP (standard) peritoneal dialysis (PD) solution (26 patients). The effects of the PD solutions on EMT and peritoneal growth factors in overnight dialysate effluent were compared at 1, 6, and 12 months.