Pvat and Atherogenesis: a Crossroad of White and Brown Adipobiology

In 1999, the prevailing response-to-injury hypothesis of Russell Ross stated that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease, lead- ing - through an inside-out road - to endothelial and smooth muscle dysfunction resulting in the formation of atherosclerotic plaques (reviewed in 1). Accordingly, intima-media thickness became an accepted measure of structural vascular remodeling and a strong predictor of atherosclerosis. However, it is unlikely that such a road may solely travel the whole multiplex network like that of atherogenesis. Recently things changed dramatically and the attention was moved from inside-out to outside-in road emphasizing the role for adventitial and adipose dysfunction in the processes of atherogenesis (2, 3).