Hot off the Press: Endothelial Microparticles and Systemic Complement Activation in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Abstract

Pat ient s wit h chronic kidney disease are known t o have a higher incidence of cardiovascul ar disease. Whil e an el ement of t his is due t o t he presence of t radit ional risk f act ors (such as hypert ension), t here remains a number of predisposing charact erist ics in t his popul at ion t hat are poorl y underst ood. One of t hese f act ors, is t he idea t hat syst emic inf l ammat ion is a marked cont ribut or t o cardiovascul ar out comes and is hypot hesized t o be mediat ed by mol ecul ar pat hways such as t he compl ement syst em, among ot hers.