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The high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease indicates significant interactions between pathogenic pathways operating in the kidney and heart. These interactions involve all cell types (endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, macrophages, and others), components of the vasculature, glomeruli, and heart that are susceptible to oxidative damage and structural alterations. A vicious cycle occurs whereby harmful factors such as reactive oxygen species and inflammation damage of vascular structures that themselves become sources of additional dangerous/toxic components released into the local environment. The evidence of this vicious cycle in chronic kidney disease should therefore lead to add other factors to both traditional and nontraditional risk factors. This review will examine the processes occurring during progressive kidney dysfunction with regard to vascular injury, renal remodeling, cardiac hypertrophy, and the transversal role of oxidative stress in the development of these complications.

Urothelial carcinoma with an inverted growth pattern (UC-IGP) is a peculiar entity within the spectrum of urothelial lesions. While efforts have been made over the last few decades to unravel its carcinogenesis and relationship with conventional urothelial carcinoma, the exact classification of inverted urothelial lesions is a matter of debate. The morphological features of UC-IGP pose several issues in differential diagnosis with other mostly benign lesions. Various techniques, including immunohistochemistry, UroVysion, and many molecular methods, have been employed to study the exact nature of this lesion. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the morphological and immunophenotypical aspects of UC-IGP. Moreover, we present and discuss the immunohistochemical and molecular markers involved in diagnosis and prognosis of UC-IGP lesions.