Soluble CD14 and endotoxin levels in hemodialysis patients: a tale of 2 molecules.

摘要

Despite the use of traditional approaches to treat cardiovascular disease, including diet modification, smoking cessation, blood pressure and diabetes control, and use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, statins, and antiplatelet agents, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in dialysis patients.This suggests an important role by other coexisting nontraditional risk factors that are associated with kidney failure and dialysis per se, including putative uremic toxins, endothelial dysfunction, hyperparathyroidism, vascular calcification, and inflammation.1 Of these nontraditional risk factors, inflammatory markers are associated strongly with cardiovascular mortality risk.