Overview

• Houston Methodist researchers reported on October 2 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia that adipose-derived extracellular vesicles from people with obesity are linked to faster amyloid-β aggregation.
• Lipidomic profiling of vesicles from human subcutaneous and visceral fat identified distinct cargo in obesity, notably differences in lysophosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin species.
• In vitro assays showed that the identity and concentration of these lipids altered amyloid-β clumping kinetics.
• Experiments using mouse models and human donor fat samples indicate these vesicles can traverse the blood–brain barrier, suggesting a direct fat-to-brain signaling route.
• The authors emphasize the findings are preclinical and propose testing therapies that modulate vesicle signaling or lipid cargo, noting obesity affects roughly 40% of U.S. adults and Alzheimer’s exceeds 7 million cases in the U.S.