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Calcification of the coronary arteries increases mortality. It happens more in men, with age, with kidney disease, and is associated with atherosclerosis and paradoxically, with osteoporosis, the loss of mineral density in bone. Some people are more susceptible to coronary artery calcification, and we have identified genetic variants that increase the risk of coronary artery calcification. We are working to identify the mechanisms whereby these genetic variants increase arterial calcification. Here, I will focus on 2 genetic loci: one on chromosome 9 at position p21.3 that increases the risk of coronary calcification in men and women but does not associate with osteoporosis, and another locus at the IRF2BP2 gene on chromosome 1 that ties to increased coronary calcification in men but reduces the risk of osteoporosis. The learning objectives are:

1. To understand mechanisms that affect arterial calcification.
2. To learn how a protein in saliva is also made by smooth muscle cells to prevent arterial calcification.
3. To learn how an immune regulatory mechanism affects the production of an anti- calcification protein.