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Abstract 413: Targeting Fundamental Mechanisms Of Aging To Attenuate Molecular Drivers Of Vascular Calcification

Increases in vascular calcification (VC) and fibrosis are a near ubiquitous finding with aging. Here, we sought to test the hypothesis that Metformin (MET)—an AMPK activator entering large clinical trials that is thought to attenuate multimorbidity associated with aging—attenuates key molecular processes known to drive vascular calcification (VC) and fibrogenic signaling in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in vitro. Given recent reports highlighting the importance of mitochondria and sirtuins with aging, we also tested the hypothesis that MET-driven reductions in osteogenic signaling are associated with upregulation of SIRT3. We used exogenous BMP2 (100 ng/ml) and TGFβ1 (10 ng/ml) as osteogenic and fibrogenic stimuli, respectively. Consistent with prior work from our lab, treatment with BMP2 for 24 hours robustly increased expression of the osteogenic genes Msx2 (3.9±1.5 fold-change, FC), Runx2 (3.5±1.2 FC), and osterix (17.2±5.2 FC) in VSMCs. Critically, co-treatment with Metformin dramatically reduced expression of these genes by 68 ± 22%, 58 ±20%, and 63 ± 4%, respectively. Subsequent experiments treating cells with exogenous TGFβ1 resulted in significant induction of the fibrogenic marker/known TGFβ1 target versican (1.7±0.4 FC), an effect that was largely attenuated by co-treatment with MET (58±3%). Treatment with MET did not, however, impact TGFβ1-induced increases in CTGF or fibronectin. Treatment with either BMP2 or TGFβ1 resulted in significant increases in mRNA levels of SIRT3 (2.5 ±0.11 and 1.4 ±0.17 FC, respectively), whereas treatment with MET resulted in modest and less consistent increases in SIRT3 mRNA (1.3 ± 0.2 FC). Interestingly, however, co-treatment with BMP2+MET or TGFβ1+MET resulted in uniform suppression of BMP2/ TGFβ1-induced increases in SIRT3 (54±19% and 25±12%, respectively). Collectively, these data suggest that treatment with MET may be a viable strategy to attenuate age-associated increases in osteogenic and fibrogenic signaling in conduit vessels, and suggest further in vivo investigation into therapeutic efficacy is warranted.