Common pathways involved in adipose tissue inflammation and atherosclerosis

Adipose tissue inflammation and atherosclerosis are the main mechanisms behind type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease respectively, the major risks associated with the metabolic syndrome. Studies considering more than single factors behind the complexity of the metabolic syndrome are valuable to achieve a better and wider understanding of the metabolic syndrome. In this study common dysregulated pathways between adipose tissue inflammation and atherosclerosis were identified using two different bioinformatic tools to perform pathway analysis. First, we run a gene set enrichment analysis utilizing with data from two microarray experiments done with gonadal white adipose tissue and atherosclerotic aorta. Once the common dysregulated pathways between both tissues were identify, the inflammatory response and the oxidative phosphorylation pathways from the Hallmark geneset were selected to conduct a deeper checkup at the single gene level of these pathways. Second, we carried out a pathway analysis validation with the Panther software combining the microarray data with a published type 2 diabetes mellitus metanalysis and cardiovascular disease metanalysis which included human data. In conclusion, this study provides worthwhile data pointing out and describing several dysregulated and common pathways in adipose tissue inflammation and atherosclerotic aorta with a potential implication in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis.

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Moreno-Viedma V, Amor M, Sarabi A, Bilban M, Staffler G, Zeyda M, Stulnig TM