In vitro studies of the renin-angiotensin system in human adipose tissue/adipocytes and possible relationship to SARS-CoV-2: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) operates within adipose tissue. Obesity-related changes can affect adipose RAS, predisposing to hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and possibly severe COVID-19. We evaluated the in vitro research on human adipose RAS and identified gaps in the literature. Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Web of Science, Scopus, and 1findr were searched to identify relevant studies. Fifty primary studies met our inclusion criteria for analysis. Expression of RAS components (n = 14), role in differentiation (n = 14), association with inflammation (n = 15) or blood pressure (n = 7) were investigated. We found (1) obesity-related changes in RAS were frequently studied (30%); (2) an upswing of articles investigating adipose ACE-2 expression since the COVID-19 pandemic; (3) a paucity of papers on AT2R and Ang (1–7)/MasR which counterbalance Ang II/ART1; (4) weight loss lowered adipose ACE-2 mRNA expression; and (5) angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) reduced deleterious effects of angiotensin II. Overall, these studies link Ang II/ATR1 signalling to impaired adipogenesis and a pro-inflammatory dysfunctional adipose tissue, with ATR1 blockade limiting these responses. ACE-2 may mitigate Ang II effects by converting it to Ang(1–7) which binds MasR. More work is needed to understand adipose RAS in various pathologic states such as obesity and COVID-19 infection.T.

KEYWORDS:

• Renin-angiotensin system
• adipose tissue
• human
• in vitro studies

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Karine Fournier at the University of Ottawa Library for her support in designing our database search strategy. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/21623945.2023.2194034

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.