Vascular regenerative cells in cardiometabolic disease

Ehab Bakbak; Aishwarya Krishnaraj; Brady Park; Subodh Verma; David A Hess

doi:10.1097/HCO.0000000000001089

Vascular regenerative cells in cardiometabolic disease

Curr Opin Cardiol. 2023 Nov 1;38(6):546-551. doi: 10.1097/HCO.0000000000001089. Epub 2023 Aug 30.

Authors

Ehab Bakbak^{1

2

3}, Aishwarya Krishnaraj^{1

2

3}, Brady Park^{1

2

3}, Subodh Verma^{1

2

3

4}, David A Hess^{1

2

3

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiac Surgery, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto.
² Keenan Research Centre of Biomedical Science and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital.
³ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
⁴ Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto.
⁵ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London.
⁶ Molecular Medicine Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 37668181
DOI: 10.1097/HCO.0000000000001089

Abstract

Purpose of review: This review will provide an overview of the recent literature linking the pathophysiology of cardiometabolic disease with the depletion and dysfunction of circulating vascular regenerative (VR) cell content. Moreover, we provide rationale for the use of VR cells as a biomarker for cardiovascular risk and the use of pharmacological agents to improve VR cell content.

Recent findings: Recent studies demonstrate the potential of VR cells as a biomarker of cardiovascular risk and as a therapeutic target. Notably, lipid-lowering agents, antihyperglycemic therapies such as sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, as well as exercise and weight loss, have all been found to improve VR cell content, providing mechanistic evidence supporting a role in mitigating adverse cardiovascular outcomes in people with cardiometabolic-based disease.

Summary: The importance of VR cells as a biomarker in assessing cardiovascular risk is becoming increasingly apparent. This review highlights recent literature supporting the accurate use of VR cell characterization to monitor the capacity for vessel repair and novel strategies to improve vessel health. Future research is required to validate and optimize these emerging approaches.