Desphospho-uncarboxylated matrix Gla protein is associated with increased aortic stiffness in a general population

Matrix gla protein (mgp), a natural inhibitor of calcification, strongly correlates with the extent of coronary calcification. vitamin k is the essential cofactor for the activation of mgp. the nonphosphorylated-uncarboxylated isoform of mgp (dp-ucmgp) reflects the status of this vitamin. we investigated whether there is an association between dp-ucmgp and stiffness of elastic and muscular-type large arteries in a random sample from the general population. in a cross-sectional design, we analyzed 1087 subjects from the czech post-monica study. aortic and femoro-popliteal pulse wave velocities (pwvs) were measured using a sphygmocor device. dp-ucmgp concentrations were assessed in freshly frozen samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods using the inaktif mgp isys pre-commercial kit developed by ids and vitak. aortic pwv significantly (p<0.0001) increased across the dp-ucmgp quartiles. after adjustment for all potential confounders, aortic pwv independently correlated with dp-ucmgp (with beta coefficient (s.d.) 11.61 (5.38) and p-value=0.031). in a categorized manner, subjects in the top quartile of dp-ucmgp (⩾ 671 pmol l−1) had a higher risk of elevated aortic pwv, with corresponding adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 1.73 (1.17–2.5). in contrast, no relation between dp-ucmgp and femoro-popliteal pwv was found. in conclusion, increased dp-ucmgp, which is a circulating biomarker of vitamin k status and vascular calcification, is independently associated with aortic stiffness, but not with stiffness of distal muscular-type arteries.