Role of SuPAR in the Intersection between Cardiovascular and Kidney Disease

Cardiovascular and kidney disease frequently co-exist for reasons that are poorly understood. Soluble urokinase plasminogen active receptor (suPAR) is a recently discovered cause of kidney disease and a strong marker of cardiovascular risk, and we propose studying the role for suPAR in cardiovascular disease and testing the hypothesis that people with high suPAR levels have early and progressive atherosclerosis, independently of its known impact on the kidneys.

Understanding the role of suPAR as a novel pathogenic factor of CVD and biomarker of risk will lead to the design and study of therapeutic and preventive interventions with wide reaching impact.