Abstract
Understanding how the precise interactions of nerves, immune cells, and adipose tissue account for cardiovascular and metabolic biology is a central aim of biomedical research at present. A long standing paradigm holds that the vascular wall is composed of three concentric tissue coats (tunicae): intima, media, and adventitia. However, large- and medium-sized arteries, where usually atherosclerotic lesions develop, are consistently surrounded by periadventitial adipose tissue (PAAT), we recently designated tunica adiposa (in brief, adiposa like intima, media, and adventitia). Today, atherosclerosis is considered an immune-mediated inflammatory disease featured by endothelial dysfunction/intimal thickening, medial atrophy, and adventitial lesions associated with adipose dysfunction, whereas hypertension is characterized by hyperinnervation-associated medial thickening due to smooth muscle cell hypertrophy/hyperplasia. PAAT expansion is associated with increased infiltration of immune cells, both adipocytes and immunocytes secreting pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory (metabotrophic) signaling proteins collectively dubbed adipokines. However, the role of vascular nerves and their interactions with immune cells and paracrine adipose tissue is not yet evaluated in such an integrated way. The present review attempts to briefly highlight the findings in basic and translational sciences in this area focusing on neuro–immune–adipose interactions, herein referred to as triactome. Triactome-targeted pharmacology may provide a novel therapeutic approach in cardiovascular disease.
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
Steve Jobs, from his Commencement address delivered on June 12, 2005 at the Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Prolog
At the beginning of this century the Human Genome Project was finalized estimating over 30,000 genes encoding more than 100,000 functionally distinct proteins. As happened usually, one solved problem delivered many unsolved ones. Thus in the postgenome time, many “-ome” projects have emerged including proteome, transcriptome, interactome, metabolome, adipokinome, secretome, exposome, connectome so much numerous to be listed. Perhaps, this prompted Jeff Lichtman and Joshua Sanes to entitle one of their connectome articles Ome sweet ome [Curr Opin Neurobiol (2008) 18:346–53].
The present review is about connecting the dots from neuroimmunology, adipobiology, and vascular biology into the hypothesis of neuro–immune–adipose interactions, herein designated triactome.
Vascular Wall
Traditional view considers that the arterial wall is composed of three concentric tissue coats (tunicae): intima, media, and adventitia. However, in 1991, Soltis and Cassis studying rat aorta contractility wrote: “Virtually every blood vessel in the (human) body is surrounded to some degree by adipose tissue” (). Forgotten, periadventitial adipose tissue (PAAT) has emerged again in the beginning of the 2000s (–). Indeed, large- and medium-sized arteries, where usually atherosclerotic lesions develop, are consistently surrounded by PAAT, recently conceptualized as fourth, outermost vascular coat, that is, tunica adiposa (hereafter also termed adiposa, like intima, media, and adventitia) (, ). Like epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) () and that around other internal organs (), adiposa is not separated by a fascia from the underlying tissue, thus a bidirectional pathway between adiposa and other vascular coats is available for diffusible signals.
As depicted in Figure 1, the perivascular nerves are positioned at the media–adventitia border. Vascular as well as adipose tissue are extensively innervated by sympathetic nerves (, ), and their density correlates with the presence of nerve growth factor (NGF) (see below). The artery wall has the capacity to undergo remodeling in response to long-term changes or injuries. This is a process of structural rearrangement that involves cell growth, death, migration, phenotypic modulation, and secretion of extracellular matrix molecules by secretory phenotype smooth muscle cells (SMCs) ().
Figure 1
Vascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death globally, and the major CVD’s phenotypes are atherosclerosis and hypertension. The raised (occlusive) intimal lesions are classically referred to as atherosclerotic plaques.
The inflammatory nature of atherosclerotic plaques was first described by Rudolf Virchow in 1858. Onward, since 1933 Nikolai Anitchkov’s lipid deposition and the 1970s Russell Ross’ proliferation of SMC in response to endothelial injury (
In brief, atherosclerosis is a progressive chronic lipid- and insulin resistance-driven inflammatory disease (
Nowadays, paradigms defining the cell biology of vascular diseases are the following: (i) the hypertensive vascular wall is characterized by hyperinnervation-associated medial thickening due to SMC hypertrophy/hyperplasia, whereas (ii) the atherosclerotic vascular wall is characterized by intimal thickening, medial atrophy, and adventitial and adipose remodeling including the reduced expression of perivascular nerves (
This brief description will be followed by a story about four dots and finally by their connection resulting in triactome hypothesis in vascular biology.
Dot 1
Neuroimmunology: Neurotrophins are not solely for neurons
Life at the cellular level requires growth-promoting trophic support and immune sensing. One of the biggest recent achievements of neurobiology is the study on neurotrophic factors. The neurotrophins are exciting examples of these factors.
At the end of the nineteenth century it was envisaged by Santiago Ramon y Cajal but has not been proved that the nerves require trophic support. By a rare combination of scientific reasoning and intuition, the proof was obtained by Rita Levi-Montalcini, Viktor Hamburger, and Stanley Cohen in the early 1950s in Saint Louis, MO, USA, where the first cell growth factor, namely NGF, was discovered (
The neurotrophin family of proteins consisted of NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), NT-4/5, NT-6, and NT-7. Neurotrophins mediate their effects via ligation of: (i) pan-neurotrophin receptor, p75NTR, and (ii) receptor tyrosine kinase (tropomyosin-related kinase) (Trk), namely, TrkA (for NGF), Trk B (for BDNF and NT-4), and TrkC (for NT-3) (
As often occurs, the framework of an initial concept of the physiological role of a newly discovered molecules extends in the light of emerging findings. This was also the case with NGF. During some 30 years after its discovery, there have been few reasons given to indicate that NGF acts on non-neuronal cells. Thus, it was remarkable to discover that treatment of newborn rats with NGF caused a systemic increase in the number of mast cells (
Table 1
| Immune cells | Other cells |
|---|---|
| Mast cells | Endothelial cells |
| Lymphocytes | Vascular smooth muscle cells |
| Macrophages | Fibroblasts/myofibroblasts |
| Dendritic cells | Platelets |
| Neutrophils | Adipocytes |
| Perivascular nerves |
Cellular targets and sources for neurotrophins as potentially related to atherogenesisa.
aFrom Ref. (
Taken together, NGF and its relative molecules are mediators of multiple biological phenomena in health and disease, ranging from the neurotrophic through immunotrophic and epitheliotrophic to metabotrophic effects. The evidence indicates that not only at neuroimmune, but also at cardiometabolic level life requires metabotrophic factors (those improving glucose, lipid, and adipokine metabolism) such as NGF and BDNF (
Furthermore, hypertension has recently been recognized as an immune disorder and accumulating evidence suggests that interactions between the sympathetic nerves, renin–angiotensin system, and immune cells play a role in blood pressure regulation (
Dot 2
Adipoimmunology: Adipose tissue-associated immune cells
Lymphocytes, macrophages, and mast cells
The evaluation of interactions of adipose tissue with a variety of immune cells is becoming one of the challenging topics of current biomedical research. This may elevate our knowledge about various physiological and pathological processes such as inflammation and metabolism and related disorders (
White blood cells are able to home in extralymphoid peripheral tissues, including adipose tissue – here, chemokines and their receptors are critical factors in such a trafficking process, the accumulation of lymphocytes and macrophages around dying adipocytes forming “crown-like structure,” a histological signature of white adipose tissue (WAT) in obesity (
Mast cells were first described in 1878 by Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915) in his doctoral thesis “Contribution to the Theory and Practice of Histological Staining” [see Ref. (
Note that pioneering findings for the importance of paracrine interactions between adipose tissue and immune cells were provided by Caroline Pond and her colleagues in the 1990s (
Dot 3
Vascular biology: Do not ignore perivascular nerves and adventitial immune cells
In 1962, Schwartz (
Coronary restenosis
In 1983, at the seminar organized by Dr. George Pappas (Department of Anatomy, Medical School, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA), one of us (George Nikov Chaldakov) delivered a lecture entitled “The fine structure of secretory-state SMC and their possible role in occlusive arterial diseases.” During the discussion, the question whether some adventitial fibroblasts may migrate to the intima was raised. The answer of the author was “I do not know. It seems impossible.” However, what seemed “impossible” in 1983 was proven possible in 1996 when Shi et al. [Ref. (
NGF, p75NTR and mast cells in human coronary atherosclerosis
In 2001, the first results about altered amount of NGF in the human coronary vascular wall affected by advanced atherosclerosis have been published [Ref. (
Figure 2

Nerve growth factor, mast cell, and vasa vasorum changes in selected human atherosclerotic cardiac tissues expressed as percentage of controls. Modified from Ref. (
Since mast cells are known to be a cellular component of the coronary artery and, as indicated above, these cells not only respond to NGF action (
Although “many roads lead to atheroma,” the prevailing hypothesis at present is the Russell Ross’ response-to-injury hypothesis (
Dot 4
Adipobiology: WAT is secretory whereas BAT thermogenic organ
Accumulation of adipose tissue in the visceral and subcutaneous abdominal tissue, also around internal organs (Figure 3), is a major risk factor for the development of numerous disorders including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Recently, metaflammation (metabolically induced inflammation) has emerged as a pivotal process involved in the clustering of those disorders (
Figure 3

Schematic illustration of large adipose depot (visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue) and small adipose depots (organ- associated adipose tissue). Dual action of adipokines, via endocrine pathway (long arrows) and via paracrine pathway (short arrows) on the adipose tissue-associated organs, is depicted. Modified from Ref. (
Adipose tissue is very plastic tissue, being constantly remodeled along with weight gain and weight loss. It is a dynamic multicellular and matrix assemble composed of adipocytes, fibroblasts, immune cells, blood vessels, stem cells, and sympathetic nerve fibers (
By sending and receiving different types of protein and non-protein signals, adipose tissue communicates with many organs in the body, including the brain, thus contributing to the control of energy, lipid, and glucose homeostasis as well as inflammation, immunity, learning, and memory among many other biological functions (
In human body, while WAT stores energy, BAT has the ability to dissipate energy by producing heat. BAT-mediated increase in energy expenditure is realized by uncoupling respiration from ATP synthesis, via uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), which is expressed in brown adipocytes, thus generating heat, a process known as adaptive thermogenesis (
Adipoparacrinology
In 1933, Smith and Willius (
One of the biggest recent achievements in studying cardiometabolic diseases is associated with the “rediscovery” of an ignored tissue, the adipose tissue. Adipose tissue considered as a passive storage-releaser of lipids and heat by most cell biologists and pathologists for a long period of time, can no longer be neglected in almost any biomedical field. The last 19–20 years, that is, the time after Jeffrey Friedman’s discovery of leptin, have seen it rise above the horizon to become the root cause of a plethora of syndromes and diseases (
Obese phenotype of WAT is featured by adipocyte hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia leading to hypoxia and invasion of immune cells, resulting in an increased production of pro-inflammatory adipokines (
One aspect of the role of tunica adiposa, also EAT, is whether they facilitate or inhibit the process of atherogenesis. It is know that the proximal segments of coronary arteries are surrounded by subEAT, and these are atherosclerosis-prone as compared to the distal, intramyocardial, adipose-free, and atherosclerosis-resistant coronaries (
Whatever changes occur in tunica adiposa, little is known of whether they can be causally associated with atherogenesis or whether they are a paracrine reaction to the injury developing within other layers of the artery wall, particularly the adventitia. Given the key role of inflammation in the development of atherosclerotic lesions, what role might then adiposa play in the process of atherogenesis? As indicated above, the expansion of adipose tissue seen in obesity is associated with adipose inflammation leading to an imbalanced secretion including: (i) an enhanced release of pro-inflammatory adipokines, and (ii) a decreased release of anti-inflammatory (metabotrophic) adipokines (Table 2) as well as (iii) a disbalance in contractile and relaxing factors released from adiposa (Table 3). Such a yin-and-yang pattern of cell secretion requires a research aiming at: (i) the inhibition of secretion and/or receptor sensitivity of pro-inflammatory and vasocontractile adipose-derived mediators, and (ii) the stimulation of secretion and/or receptor sensitivity of anti-inflammatory (metabotrophic) and vasorelaxing adipose-derived mediators (
Table 2
| Pro-inflammatory signals | Anti-inflammatory signals |
|---|---|
| Tumor necrosis factor-α | Adiponectin |
| Interleukin-1β, -18/inflammasome | Interleukin-10 |
| Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α | Nerve growth factor |
| MIP-1 (CCL2) | Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist |
| Leptin | Brain-derived neurotrophic factor |
| RANTES (CCL5) | Humanina |
| Fractalkine (CX3CL1) | Irisin |
| Interleukin-8 (CXCL8) | Apelin, Otopetrin 1 |
| Resistin | Omentin, Chemerin |
| ROS | Resolvin D1 |
| Acylation stimulating protein | |
| Netrin-1 | |
| Profilin-1 |
Selected list of pro- and anti-inflammatory adipose-derived signals relevant to cardiovascular disease.
aHumanin is not (yet) adipose-derived product; it is a peptide produced by mitochondria (
MIP-1 (CCL2), monocyte chemoattractant protein (CCL2, cysteine–cysteine modified chemokine ligand 2); RANTES, regulated on activated normal T cell expressed and secreted; ROS, reactive oxygen species.
For references see the text, also Ref. (
Table 3
| Vasodilators |
| Nitric oxide (NO), adipocyte-derived relaxing factor, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), adiponectin, cardiac natriuretic peptide, adrenomedullin, visfatin, omentin |
| Vasoconstrictors |
| Superoxide anion, angiotensin II, endothelin-1, tumor necrosis factor-α |
Adipose tissue-derived mediators controlling vascular tonea.
aAll components of renin–angiotensin system are also expressed in periadventitial adipose tissue, suggesting their paracrine involvement in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and hypertension (
Arguably, adipoparacrine activity is increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of CVD. “So what does it mean if” (119) adipoparacrinology (
Connecting the Dots: Vascular Triactome
A central aim of neuroadipoimmunology is to map molecular interactions, in order to learn how they account for cardiovascular and metabolic biology and how alterations in them lead to disorders, including atherosclerosis and hypertension. However, until now we have paid less attention to the possible interactive talk in the vascular wall. When connecting the dots described above we may better understand which are the mediators in the suggested interactions between perivascular nerves, adventitial/adipose immune cells, and paracrine adipose tissue, herein designated vascular triactome. As indicated in Tables 2 and 3, the adipose-derived signaling molecules might be among the major players in the triactome. In effect, we may integrate the traditional “inside-out” (intimal) to an “outside-in” (adventitial and adipose) pathway in the pathogenesis of CVD. The present hypothesis may thus provide new insights into the therapy of these diseases.
That’s it. No big deal. Just a triactome (Figure 1). The future challenge is therefore to cultivate integrative thinking about how we can make triactome work for the benefit of cardiometabolic health.
Statements
Acknowledgments
None of this review would have been possible without the staunch support and creative collaboration over the years of our brain-and-heart friends (BHF) Anna Kadar, Yasuo Uehara, Yukio Yamori, Takashi Fujiwara, Anton B. Tonchev, Francesco Angelucci, Federica Sornelli, Mariyana G. Hristova, Vesselka Nikolova, Stanislav Yanev, and many other too numerous to name. We apologize to the authors of many relevant articles that were not quoted here for reasons of brevity.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
adipose tissue, adipokines, atherosclerosis, lymphocytes, mast cells, NGF, BDNF, perivascular nerves
Citation
Chaldakov GN, Fiore M, Ghenev PI, Beltowski J, Ranćić G, Tunçel N and Aloe L (2014) Triactome: Neuro–Immune–Adipose Interactions. Implication in Vascular Biology. Front. Immunol. 5:130. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2014.00130
Received
11 February 2014
Accepted
14 March 2014
Published
08 April 2014
Volume
5 - 2014
Edited by
Oreste Gualillo, Santiago University Clinical Hospital, Spain
Reviewed by
Marcia Hiriart, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico; Johan Renes, Maastricht University, Netherlands
Copyright
© 2014 Chaldakov, Fiore, Ghenev, Beltowski, Ranćić, Tunçel and Aloe.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: George Nikov Chaldakov, Laboratory of Cell Biology, Department of Anatomy and Histology, Medical University, Varna BG-9002, Bulgaria e-mail: chaldakov@yahoo.com
This article was submitted to Inflammation, a section of the journal Frontiers in Immunology.
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