Perivascular Tissue Stress Response: A New Frontier in Atherosclerosis Research

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K16097
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 53020:Cardiology-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Adachi Yusuke 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 特任研究員 (40834198)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 動脈硬化 / 血管周囲脂肪 / 急性大動脈解離

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we demonstrated that anti-inflammatory macrophages, which accumulate around the vasculature as a stress response mechanism following vascular injury, induce the beiging of perivascular adipose tissue. Additionally, we focused on acute aortic dissection as a specific form of vascular injury and advanced our research using both human and mouse models. We showed, through analyses conducted with mouse models and human pathological samples, that anti-inflammatory macrophages significantly accumulate in the dissected perivascular tissue as part of this stress response mechanism. Furthermore, we discovered that the perivascular fat attenuation index, which is recognized as a marker of perivascular inflammation, significantly increases in cases of acute aortic dissection, indicating its potential as a novel biomarker for diagnosing this condition.

Free Research Field

動脈硬化

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究によって、血管傷害に対する生体内のストレス応答機構の一環としての血管周囲脂肪褐色化現象の一端を解明することができた。また、研究代表者はマウスモデルおよびヒト臨床サンプルを用いて、大動脈解離における血管周囲組織の炎症・免疫動態に迫る基礎・臨床研究を展開している。大動脈周囲炎症をこれまで非侵襲的に捉える方法は乏しかったが、血管周囲脂肪減衰指数は非造影コンピューター断層撮影画像から算出できる非侵襲的な指標であり、造影剤を必要としない新たなバイオマーカーとして機能する可能性が期待される。