{"id":107433,"date":"2024-03-25T20:39:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T00:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/?p=107433"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:56:07","slug":"obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/","title":{"rendered":"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>UVA Author:<\/strong> Nicholas Chavkin<br \/>\n<strong>Citation:<\/strong> Chavkin NW, Vippa T, Jung C, McDonnell S, Hirschi KK, Gokce N, Walsh K. Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Sep 19;10:1264479. doi: 10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479. PMID: 37795485; PMCID: PMC10546194.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DOI:<\/strong> <a>https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479\/full<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Pub-Med Number<\/strong>: 37795485<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Introduction: Vascular dysfunction and chronic inflammation are characteristics of obesity-induced adipose tissue dysfunction. Proinflammatory cytokines can drive an endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT), where endothelial cells undergo a phenotypic switch to mesenchymal-like cells that are pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic. In this study, we sought to determine whether obesity can promote EndoMT in adipose tissue.<\/p>\n<p>Methods: Mice in which endothelial cells are lineage-traced with eYFP were fed a high-fat\/high-sucrose (HF\/HS) or Control diet for 13, 26, and 52 weeks, and EndoMT was assessed in adipose tissue depots as percentage of CD45-CD31-Acta2+ mesenchymal-like cells that were eYFP +. EndoMT was also assessed in human adipose endothelial cells through cell culture assays and by the analysis of single cell RNA sequencing datasets obtained from the visceral adipose tissues of obese individuals.<\/p>\n<p>Results: Quantification by flow cytometry showed that mice fed a HF\/HS diet display a time-dependent increase in EndoMT over Control diet in subcutaneous adipose tissue (+3.0%, +2.6-fold at 13 weeks; +10.6%, +3.2-fold at 26 weeks; +11.8%, +2.9-fold at 52 weeks) and visceral adipose tissue (+5.5%, +2.3-fold at 13 weeks; +20.7%, +4.3-fold at 26 weeks; +25.7%, +4.8-fold at 52 weeks). Transcriptomic analysis revealed that EndoMT cells in visceral adipose tissue have enriched expression of genes associated with inflammatory and TGF\u03b2 signaling pathways. Human adipose-derived microvascular endothelial cells cultured with TGF-\u03b21, IFN-\u03b3, and TNF-\u03b1 exhibited a similar upregulation of EndoMT markers and induction of inflammatory response pathways. Analysis of single cell RNA sequencing datasets from visceral adipose tissue of obese patients revealed a nascent EndoMT sub-cluster of endothelial cells with reduced PECAM1 and increased ACTA2 expression, which was also enriched for inflammatory signaling genes and other genes associated with EndoMT.<\/p>\n<p>Discussion: These experimental and clinical findings show that chronic obesity can accelerate EndoMT in adipose tissue. We speculate that EndoMT is a feature of adipose tissue dysfunction that contributes to local inflammation and the systemic metabolic effects of obesity..<\/p>\n<p>Keywords: adipose; aging; endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition; endothelium; obesity; vascular biology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UVA Author: Nicholas Chavkin Citation: Chavkin NW, Vippa T, Jung C, McDonnell S, Hirschi KK, Gokce N, Walsh K. Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Sep 19;10:1264479. doi: 10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479. PMID: 37795485; PMCID: PMC10546194. DOI: https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479\/full Pub-Med Number: 37795485 Introduction: Vascular dysfunction and chronic inflammation are characteristics [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1740,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-107433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-publications","tag-department-news"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans - Department of Cell Biology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans - Department of Cell Biology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UVA Author: Nicholas Chavkin Citation: Chavkin NW, Vippa T, Jung C, McDonnell S, Hirschi KK, Gokce N, Walsh K. Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Sep 19;10:1264479. doi: 10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479. PMID: 37795485; PMCID: PMC10546194. DOI: https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479\/full Pub-Med Number: 37795485 Introduction: Vascular dysfunction and chronic inflammation are characteristics [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Cell Biology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-26T00:39:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-09T16:56:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"zkr7e@virginia.edu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"zkr7e@virginia.edu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"zkr7e@virginia.edu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4929a1d4683383a392718e12166cd7f\"},\"headline\":\"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-26T00:39:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-09T16:56:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"keywords\":[\"Department News\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured Publications\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/\",\"name\":\"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans - Department of Cell Biology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-26T00:39:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-09T16:56:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4929a1d4683383a392718e12166cd7f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/25\\\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Cell Biology\",\"description\":\"University of Virginia School of Medicine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4929a1d4683383a392718e12166cd7f\",\"name\":\"zkr7e@virginia.edu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/eb05928a9c10d0bc86fc859e223e3e9cd7a535837367cf67c524db2a42f795d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/eb05928a9c10d0bc86fc859e223e3e9cd7a535837367cf67c524db2a42f795d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/eb05928a9c10d0bc86fc859e223e3e9cd7a535837367cf67c524db2a42f795d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"zkr7e@virginia.edu\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/cell-biology\\\/author\\\/zkr7evirginia-edu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans - Department of Cell Biology","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans - Department of Cell Biology","og_description":"UVA Author: Nicholas Chavkin Citation: Chavkin NW, Vippa T, Jung C, McDonnell S, Hirschi KK, Gokce N, Walsh K. Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Sep 19;10:1264479. doi: 10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479. PMID: 37795485; PMCID: PMC10546194. DOI: https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1264479\/full Pub-Med Number: 37795485 Introduction: Vascular dysfunction and chronic inflammation are characteristics [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/","og_site_name":"Department of Cell Biology","article_published_time":"2024-03-26T00:39:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-09T16:56:07+00:00","author":"zkr7e@virginia.edu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"zkr7e@virginia.edu","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/"},"author":{"name":"zkr7e@virginia.edu","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/#\/schema\/person\/b4929a1d4683383a392718e12166cd7f"},"headline":"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans","datePublished":"2024-03-26T00:39:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-09T16:56:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/"},"wordCount":370,"keywords":["Department News"],"articleSection":["Featured Publications"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/","name":"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans - Department of Cell Biology","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-03-26T00:39:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-09T16:56:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/#\/schema\/person\/b4929a1d4683383a392718e12166cd7f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/2024\/03\/25\/obesity-accelerates-endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-adipose-tissues-of-mice-and-humans\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Obesity accelerates endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in adipose tissues of mice and humans"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/#website","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/","name":"Department of Cell Biology","description":"University of Virginia School of Medicine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/#\/schema\/person\/b4929a1d4683383a392718e12166cd7f","name":"zkr7e@virginia.edu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb05928a9c10d0bc86fc859e223e3e9cd7a535837367cf67c524db2a42f795d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb05928a9c10d0bc86fc859e223e3e9cd7a535837367cf67c524db2a42f795d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb05928a9c10d0bc86fc859e223e3e9cd7a535837367cf67c524db2a42f795d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"zkr7e@virginia.edu"},"url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/author\/zkr7evirginia-edu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107518,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107433\/revisions\/107518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/cell-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}