Journal Article

Inflammation and Resolution in Obesity-Related Cardiovascular Disease

Stachteas, Panagiotis, Antoniadis, Antonios P., Patoulias, Dimitrios, Fragakis, Nikolaos, Iliakis, Panagiotis, Sidiropoulos, Georgios, Grigoriou, Konstantinos, Karakasis, Paschalis

2026

Overview

Obesity-associated inflammation underlies much of cardiometabolic pathology, reflecting the convergence of chronic, low-grade systemic immune activation with region-specific maladaptation of adipose depots. Among these, epicardial adipose tissue (EAT)—a visceral fat layer contiguous with the myocardium and sharing its microvasculature—functions as a cardio-proximal immunometabolic interface that influences atrial fibrillation, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, and coronary atherogenesis through paracrine crosstalk. These relationships extend beyond crude measures of adiposity, emphasizing the primacy of local inflammatory signaling, adipokine flux, and fibro-inflammatory remodeling at the EAT–myocardium interface. Of importance, substantial weight reduction only partially reverses obesity-imprinted transcriptional and epigenetic programs across subcutaneous, visceral, and epicardial depots, supporting the concept of an enduring adipose memory that sustains cardiovascular (CV) risk despite metabolic improvement. Accordingly, therapeutic strategies should move beyond weight-centric management toward mechanism-guided interventions. Resolution pharmacology—leveraging specialized pro-resolving mediators and their cognate G-protein-coupled receptors—offers a biologically plausible means to terminate inflammation and reprogram immune–stromal interactions within adipose and CV tissues. Although preclinical studies report favorable effects on vascular remodeling, myocardial injury, and arrhythmic vulnerability, clinical translation is constrained by pharmacokinetic liabilities of native mediators and by incomplete validation of biomarkers for target engagement. This review integrates mechanistic, depot-resolved, and therapeutic evidence to inform the design of next-generation anti-inflammatory strategies for obesity-related CV disease.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
• Subject: Adipocytes / Adipose Tissue - metabolism / Adipose tissues / Animals / Atrial fibrillation / B cells / Blood pressure / Body fat / Cardiovascular disease / Cardiovascular Diseases - etiology / Cardiovascular Diseases - metabolism / Cardiovascular Diseases - pathology / Cytokines / Epicardial Adipose Tissue / Epigenetic inheritance / Health aspects / Heart / Heart failure / Homeostasis / Humans / Inflammation / Inflammation - complications / Inflammation - metabolism / Inflammation - pathology / Insulin resistance / Leukocytes / Lipids / Liu, Timothy / Liver diseases / Metabolism / Metabolites / Microbiota / Obesity / Obesity - complications / Obesity - metabolism / Pathology / Physiology / Prebiotics / Probiotics / Proteins / Review / Tumor necrosis factor-TNF / Type 2 diabetes / Weight control / Weight loss