The contribution of mesangial cell proliferation to progressive glomerular injury.

Mesangial cell proliferation is a general characteristic of a variety of glomerular diseases. Therefore, an understanding of the regulatory mechanism is important for treatment of glomerular diseases. The present review shows that the growth arrest gene 6 (Gas 6) is a new autocrine growth factor of mesangial cells and that warfarin inhibits mesangial cell proliferation by inhibiting the gamma-carboxylation of Gas 6 in vitro and in vivo. The present findings also show that a vitamin D analog (22-oxa-calcitriol) is a new growth regulator of mesangial cells in vitro and in vivo. These findings indicate that these compounds have considerable potential for therapeutic use in the treatment of progressive glomerular disease.