Leptin–VEGF crosstalk in excess body mass and related disorders: A systematic review

By 2030, it is expected that a billion people will have suffer from obesity. Adipose tis-sue synthesizes leptin, an adipokine that affects cardiovascular risk. Leptin intensifiesthe synthesis of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Our study reviews recentreports on leptin–VEGF crosstalk in obesity and related disorders. PubMed, Web ofScience, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched. One hundred and one articlesinvolving human, animal, and in vitro research were included. In vitro studies show thecrucial role of interaction between endothelial cells and adipocytes and hypoxia as a fac-tor that intensifies leptin's effects on VEGF. Leptin–VEGF crosstalk promotes the pro-gression of cancer. The animal research reveal that a high-fat diet enhances leptin andVEGF crosstalk. Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms and procreator-offspring program-ming may be involved in leptin–VEGF crosstalk. Some female-specific characteristics ofleptin–VEGF relation in obesity were observed. The human studies have shown thatincreased leptin and VEGF synthesis and leptin–VEGF crosstalk are factors linking obe-sity with elevated cardiovascular risk. The studies of the last 10 years documented arange of significant aspects of leptin–VEGF crosstalk specific for obesity and related dis-orders, shedding new light on the link between obesity and increased cardiovascular risk.