Sortilin and its Multiple Roles in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases
A new article published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (December 2017) by Danish Diabetes Academy Postdoc fellow Mads Kjolby, Aarhus University, reviews the role of sortilin in cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world. Studies of sortilin’s influence on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases goes far beyond the genome-wide association studies that have revealed an association between cardiovascular diseases and the 1p13 locus that encodes sortilin.
SORTILIN HAS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF VASCULAR AND METABOLIC DISEASES
Emerging evidence suggests a significant role of sortilin in the pathogenesis of vascular and metabolic diseases. This includes type II diabetes mellitus via regulation of insulin resistance, atherosclerosis through arterial wall inflammation and calcification, and dysregulated lipoprotein metabolism. Sortilin is also known for its functional role in neurological disorders. It serves as a key receptor for cytokines, lipids, and enzymes and participates in pathological cargo loading to and trafficking of extracellular vesicles.
PARTICULAR FOCUS ON ATHEROSCLEROSIS
This article provides a comprehensive review of sortilin’s contributions to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases but focuses particularly on atherosclerosis. We summarize recent clinical findings that suggest that sortilin may be a cardiovascular risk marker and also discuss sortilin as a potential drug target.
AUTHORS AND AFFILIATION
Claudia Goettsch1, Mads Kjolby2-4, Elena Aikawa5
1Department of Internal Medicine I-Cardiology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
2The Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Nordic European Molecular Biology Laboratory Partnership for Molecular Medicine
3Danish Diabetes Academy, Denmark, Department of Biomedicine
4Department of Cardiology (M.K.), Aarhus University, Denmark
5Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences and Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology, Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA