Fibroblast involvement in soft connective tissue calcification
Soft connective tissue calcification is not a passive process, but the consequence of metabolic changes of local mesenchymal cells that, depending on both genetic and environmental factors, alter the balance between pro- and anti-calcifying pathways. While the role of smooth muscle cells and pericytes in ectopic calcifications has been widely investigated, the involvement of fibroblasts is still elusive. Fibroblasts isolated from the dermis of pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) patients and of patients exhibiting PXE-like clinical and histopathological findings offer an attractive model to investigate the mechanisms leading to the precipitation of mineral deposits within elastic fibers and to explore the influence of the genetic background and of the extracellular environment on fibroblast-associated calcifications, thus improving the knowledge on the role of mesenchymal cells on pathologic mineralization.