A presentation at the 10th Annual Nephrology Symposium 2022, an event organised by the Academy of Nephrology & Nephrology Clinic of the University General Hospital of Larissa, Department of Medicine of the University of Thessaly, discussed the important role vitamin K2 plays in vascular calcification and the potential impact for chronic kidney disease patients. A core element of the presentation was a discussion of the current VIKIPEDIA Trial, which uses the highest dosage of MenaQ7 Vitamin K2 as MK-7 to date: 1 mg daily.
The Nephrology Symposium covers modern scientific developments in kidney diseases related to diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. According to event organisers, the main goal of the event is to contribute to more effective and correct treatment of kidney diseases. The program was attended by distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad with renowned clinical and research work in Nephrology and other fields of medicine.
One of those esteemed presenters was Stefanos Roumeliotis, MD, PhD, lead researcher of the multi-centre, placebo-controlled, randomised, open-label intervention clinical trial “The Effect of Vitamin K2 Supplementation on Arterial stiffness and Cardiovascular Events in PEritonial DIAlysis (VIKIPEDIA)”. Dr Roumeliotis and his colleagues at Aristotle University of Thessoloniki in Greece are studying the effect of K2 supplementation (through the normalisation of dp-ucMGP) on arterial stiffness and the occurrence of cardiovascular events.
It cannot be overstated the importance of every possible opportunity to advance industry, academic, and medical understanding of this essential nutrient
“Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in end-stage kidney disease patients undergoing maintenance dialysis, mainly due to accelerated vascular calcification. Having this in mind, it is crucial to investigate possible novel therapeutic choices to abrogate vascular calcification in these patients,” said Dr Roumeliotis. “Exogenous supplementation of vitamin K2 in dialysis patients has proven to be safe and well tolerated. This present study aims to elucidate whether increased vitamin K intake in peritoneal dialysis patients might be of cardiovascular benefit.
“VIKIPEDIA is the first study to assess whether a high dosage of menaquinone-7 could improve arterial stiffness, mortality, cardiovascular disease, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure, and dialysis efficacy in patients with peritoneal dialysis,” Dr Roumeliotis added. “MenaQ7 was chosen to be used in the study because the compound showed its efficacy to improve vitamin K status in many clinical trials with kidney patients.”
The protocol for the 1.5-year study will be published in June 2021, and researchers will collaborate with renowned vitamin K researchers and Gnosis by Lesaffre research partner Maastricht University, the Netherlands.
“The implications of vitamin K2 being a part of this symposium are immeasurable,” said Sophie Legrain, Gnosis by Lesaffre Director of R&D. “It cannot be overstated the importance of every possible opportunity to advance industry, academic, and medical understanding of this essential nutrient. The VIKIPEDIA Trial using such a high dosage of our MenaQ7 K2 supports its high safety profile, and we are excited at the potential positive results can offer for an at-risk patient population.”
