Adipocyte‐derived extracellular vesicles in health and diseases: Nano‐packages with vast biological properties

Abstract

As the largest human energy reservoir, adipocytes drive an intense dialog with other cells/organs throughout the body to regulate the size of adipose tissue and to communicate with other metabolic tissues and the brain to regulate energy supply. Adipokines have long been described as mediators of this crosstalk, participating in obesity‐associated complications. Recently, adipocyte‐derived extracellular vesicles (Ad‐EVs) have emerged as new key actors in this communication due to their powerful capacity to convey complex messages between cells. Ad‐EVs convey specific subpopulations of RNA, proteins, and lipids from their parental cells, and can transfer these cargoes into various recipient cells, modulating their metabolism and cell cycle. In healthy individuals, Ad‐EVs actively participate in adipose tissue remodeling to compensate energy supply variations by exchanging information between adipocytes or stroma‐vascular cells, including immune cells. Besides this, recent evidence points out that Ad‐EV secretion and composition from dysfunctional adipocytes are strongly impacted within adipose tissue where they modulate local intercellular communication, contributing to inflammation, fibrosis, abnormal angiogenesis, and at distance with other cells/tissues intrinsically linked to fat (muscle, hepatocytes and even cancer cells). Additionally, some data even suggests that Ad‐EVs might have a systemic action. In this review, we will describe the particular properties of Ad‐EVs and their involvement in health and diseases, with a particular focus on metabolic and cardiovascular diseases as well as cancer.

Lipocalin-2 promotes adipose–macrophage interactions to shape peripheral and central inflammatory responses in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

“…Interestingly, the treatment with metformin and pioglitazone, two compounds used for the management of metabolic syndrome, has been shown to increase the adiponectin/leptin ratio and improve the inflammatory profile, coinciding with decreased brain lesions in MS patients [ 51 ] and reduced cancer risk [ 52 ]. Adipocytes also release extracellular vesicles (EVs) that play a role in several pathophysiological conditions [ 53 ]. It is worth noting that EVs released by adipocytes stimulate fatty acid oxidation and migration in melanoma cells [ 54 ] and are involved in macrophage activation [ 55 ].…”

Optical Imaging of Single Extracellular Vesicles: Recent Progress and Prospects

“…The biological cargos of EVs include proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, which can be categorized into conventional and disease-related markers. ,, The conventional EV markers, which are proteins, are typically associated with the plasma membrane and cytosol, and are involved in lipid metabolism. − Although how to differentiate between different types of EVs, especially MVs and exosomes, based on protein markers is still a matter of debate, it is expected that different EV subtypes exhibit distinct protein profiles due to the different biogenesis pathways. ,, Nonetheless, there is often considerable overlap in the protein profiles, largely attributed to the absence of standardized isolation and analysis methods for EVs. ,− …”

Proposal of a bioinformatics approach to predict molecular mechanisms involved in inflammatory response: case of ATRA and 1,25(OH) 2 D in adipocytes

“…Many studies have reported that they have also been associated with physiopathological disorders related to obesity, such as oxidative stress, impaired adipogenesis, insulin signalling, angiogenesis, and inflammation [ 23 , 27–29 ]. Furthermore, some of them are secreted in vesicles and actively participate in intercellular communication [ 30–32 ]…”