Cardiac visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue adipokines are dysregulated in obesity and coronary artery disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coronary heart disease is one of the most common type of heart disease and the leading cause of mortality worldwide. A close association between obesity and increased cardiovascular diseases has been established by the epidemiological data, even though the molecular pathways underlying this close association still remain unclear. Cytokines (e.g. tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF- α), interleukin (IL)-6, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 ), chemokines (e.g. IL-8) and hormones (e.g leptin, adiponectin, resistin) secreted by the adipose tissues are the members of the adipokine family and they all mediate this association by regulating lipid accumulation, inflammation and atherogenesis. Pathogenic gene expression profile of adipokines have been demonstrated in epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), omental adipose tissue (OAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of CAD patients indicating the contribution of the local and systemic chronic infammation to the pathogenesis of CAD (1,2).