[Vascular mechanisms of renal fibrosis. Vasculonephropathies and arterial hypertension]

Abstract

Nephrovasculopathies are an increasing cause of end-stage renal failure. Nephrosclerosis is a common finding in the hypertensive patient. However, genetic factors play a prominent role in its incidence. Nephrosclerosis is a common cause of early renal failure in blacks of African ancestry, as opposed to white Europeans, in whom hypertensive nephrosclerosis rarely and slowly leads to uremia. That primary hypertension is accompanied by arterionephrosclerosis and arteriolonephrosclerosis, by focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis leading to glomerular obsolescence and by interstitial fibrosis has been established for nearly a century. However, renal vascular lesions can be observed in animal models as well as in some humans, especially blacks, in the absence of, or preceding the onset of hypertension. This suggests that nephroangiosclerosis might stem from a genetic defect in the renal vascular bed, a defect closely associated with the hypertensive trait. Atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis is a major, potentially remediable cause of chronic renal failure, especially in whites. Its prevalence in the atherosclerotic population is in the order of 15 percent. This figure has obvious bearing in terms of health cost. Early diagnosis and treatment by angioplasty or surgery can preclude development to end-stage renal disease and maintenance hemodialysis, as renal atrophy due to chronic ischemia resulting from renal artery stenosis can be halted or partially reversed by revascularization before extensive fibrosis sets in. Finally, renal vascular lesions are commonly observed in the course of various nephropathies, even in the absence of hypertension. The relationship between fibrogenesis and these vascular lesions, which develop along with interstitial fibrosis and entail an unfavorable prognosis in various glomerulopathies, remains to be elucidated. This is especially the case for focal-segmental glomerulosclerosis, membranous glomerulopathy and IgA glomerulonephritis. The pathophysiology of renal fibrosis induced by ischemia is centered on increased generation of angiotensin II that is fibrogenic owing to interaction with endothelin 1, PDGF-BB and TGF-beta. These notions open perspectives toward pharmacologic means to retard or even prevent the development of such various ischemic conditions to end-stage renal failure.