Review Article Osteoprotegerin as aMarker of Atherosclerosis in Diabetic Patients

Copyright © 2013 Areti Augoulea et al.is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Atherosclerosis is the principal cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and has many risk factors, among which is diabetes. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a soluble glycoprotein, involved in bone metabolism. OPG is also found in other tissues, and studies have shown that it is expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells. OPG has been implicated in various in�ammations and also has been linked to diabetes mellitus. Increased serum OPG levels were found in patients with diabetes and poor glycemic control. Furthermore, prepubertal children with type 1 diabetes have signi�cantly increasedOPG levels. Receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) is not found in the vasculature in normal conditions, butmay appear in calcifying areas.OPGandRANKL are important regulators ofmineralmetabolism in both bone and vascular tissues. Fewdata are available on the relationship betwee