We recently reported that activation of the activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) pathway through the saturated fatty acid (SFA)-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response plays a causative role in CKD-associated vascular calcification.
These results demonstrate that the ER stress effector ATF4 plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of vascular calcification through increased phosphate uptake in vascular SMCs.