Extracellular vesicle signature is associated with cardio-metabolic improvement after bariatric surgery

Jacopo Burrello^{1

2}, Mary Gonzalez Melo³, Amy Taheri⁴, Marisa Nagler^{3

4

5}, Lorenzo Airale², Alessio Burrello⁶, Jessica Goi², Marko Kraljević⁷, Delko Tarik⁷, Elisa Dietrich^{3

4

5}, Thomas Koestler⁸, Diana Mattiello⁸, Urs Zingg⁸, Thomas A Lutz⁴, Lucio Barile^{1

9

10}, Elena Osto^{3

5

11}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory for Cardiovascular Theranostics, Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Lugano, 6900, Switzerland.
² Division of Internal Medicine and Hypertension Unit, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, Italy.
³ Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University and University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Institute of Veterinary Physiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering (DEI), University of Bologna, Italy.
⁷ Clarunis, Department of Visceral Surgery, University Digestive Health Care Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁸ Department of Surgery, Bariatric Center, Limmattal Hospital, Schlieren, Switzerland.
⁹ Laboratories for Translational Research, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, 6500, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Euler Institute, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, 6900, Switzerland.
¹¹ Division of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Otto Loewi Research Center for Vascular Biology, Immunology and Inflammation, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.

PMID: 40911403
DOI: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf561

Extracellular vesicle signature is associated with cardio-metabolic improvement after bariatric surgery

Jacopo Burrello et al. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2025.

. 2025 Sep 5:zwaf561.

doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf561. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory for Cardiovascular Theranostics, Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Lugano, 6900, Switzerland.
² Division of Internal Medicine and Hypertension Unit, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, Italy.
³ Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University and University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Institute of Veterinary Physiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering (DEI), University of Bologna, Italy.
⁷ Clarunis, Department of Visceral Surgery, University Digestive Health Care Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁸ Department of Surgery, Bariatric Center, Limmattal Hospital, Schlieren, Switzerland.
⁹ Laboratories for Translational Research, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, 6500, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Euler Institute, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, 6900, Switzerland.
¹¹ Division of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Otto Loewi Research Center for Vascular Biology, Immunology and Inflammation, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.

PMID: 40911403
DOI: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf561

Abstract

Aims: Bariatric surgery (BS) reduces obesity-associated systemic inflammation leading to multiple cardiovascular (CV) and metabolic benefits. Here, we tested whether measuring vaso-inflammatory cytokines, gut hormones, and circulating extracellular vesicles (EV) provide vaso-inflammatory-metabolic signatures that better correlate to CV-metabolic outcomes after BS, compared to a standard clinical assessment including body weight (BW) loss and traditional CV risk factors.

Methods: In 111 patients with severe obesity, conventional clinical-biochemical parameters and non-conventional vaso-inflammatory-metabolic markers were analyzed at baseline, after 1- (T12) and 3-years (T36) post-BS and were associated to post-surgical BW loss and improvement of patients' CV-metabolic profile.

Results: BW decreased from a median of 111 to 77 Kg at T36 (30 Kg and 32.8% BMI cumulative reduction), and all traditional CV risk factors improved after BS. However, the baseline evaluation of these parameters was unable to discriminate patients according to their CV-metabolic outcome, after BS. This objective was achieved combining the decrease in circulating serum amyloid associated protein, IL-6, TNF-α, and insulin after BS, together with the increase of GLP-1, ghrelin, PYY and bile acids, and changes in EV profiling. Of note, a specific signature given by the reduced expression of several surface antigens carried by EVs and specific single EV markers (i.e., derived from endothelium, platelets, inflammatory cells), successfully discriminated patients at baseline according to their CV-metabolic post-surgical outcome.

Conclusions: Non-conventionally measured vaso-inflammatory-metabolic signatures, and in particular EV profiling, are associated with CV-metabolic outcome after BS and may be integrated to conventional parameters to improve the management and risk stratification of these patients.

Keywords: Bariatric surgery; Cardiovascular risk stratification; Extracellular vesicles; Gut hormones; Inflammatory profile; Metabolic profile.

Plain language summary

Analysis of conventional and non-conventional parameters, and in particular the profiling of surface antigens carried by circulating EVs, provided a specific vaso-inflammatory-metabolic signature of patients with severe obesity undergoing bariatric surgery (BS).The significant and sustained body weight loss after BS leads to decrease cardiovascular/metabolic morbidity, which translates into favorable changes in biomarkers related to vaso-inflammatory profile, gut hormones, and circulating EV surface antigens.Baseline levels of EV antigens were associated to cardiovascular-metabolic post-surgical outcomes, thus potentially representing a future-available minimally-invasive personalized readout to improve the clinical management of these patients.

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Accompanying editorial for the article "Extracellular vesicle signature is associated with cardio-metabolic improvement in obese patients after bariatric surgery".
Castagneto-Gissey L, Bornstein SR, Mingrone G. Castagneto-Gissey L, et al. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2025 Oct 22:zwaf684. doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf684. Online ahead of print. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2025. PMID: 41123495 No abstract available.

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Extracellular vesicle signature is associated with cardio-metabolic improvement after bariatric surgery

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Extracellular vesicle signature is associated with cardio-metabolic improvement after bariatric surgery

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

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