Immunological goings-on in visceral adipose tissue

Abstract

Chronic, low-grade inflammation of visceral adipose tissue, and systemically, is a critical link between recent strikingly parallel rises in the incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Macrophages have been recognized for some time to be critical participants in obesity-induced inflammation of adipose tissue. Of late, a score of other cell types of the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system have been suggested to play a positive or negative role in adipose tissue infiltrates. This piece reviews the existing data on these new participants; discusses experimental uncertainties, inconsistencies, and complexities; and puts forward a minimalist synthetic scheme.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

FIGURE 1. “THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS” BY H. BOSCH

An image that springs to mind when attempting to synthesize data on the participants and goings-on in obesity-associated inflammation.

FIGURE 2. IMMUNE CELL PLAYERS IN ORGANISMAL METABOLISM

The outcome of obesity-associated adipose-tissue inflammation reflects a balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory elements of the innate and adaptive immune systems.