Author Spotlight: Insights into Cardiometabolic Diseases with Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Microvasculature Studies

We want to understand the role of the subcutaneous adipose tissue microvasculature in people with and without cardiometabolic disease. To do this, we've been isolating subcutaneous adipose tissue microvascular endothelial cells from patients undergoing cardiac implantable electronic devices. This is to study the endothelial cell phenotype and cell-cell crosstalk with adipocytes.

Historically, we have used immortalized human cell lines or animal models to study cardiometabolic disease in vitro. However, these are not representative of diseases in human subjects. Our technique overcomes this by allowing us to understand the cellular basis of cardiometabolic disease using tissue from real-world patients.

Our group is currently investigating the mechanism of dysregulated subcutaneous adipose tissue endothelial cell adipocyte crosstalk in people with diabetes, in particular, the impact of diabetic endothelium on adipocyte function and how this can be targeted to improve cardiometabolic health.