Besides its importance for glucose, lipid and energy metabolism, the present paradigm defines adipose tissue as thebody's largest endocrine and paracrine organ. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that adipose tissue cells synthesize and release a large number of signaling proteins collectively termed adipokines. Adipokines regulate a broad spectrum of biological processes, with inflammation being a key example. This defines a new field of study: adipobiology of inflammation. Herewe shalldance round it, supposing that the pathogenesis of inflammation-related diseases such as atherosclerosis, thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy, inflammatory bowel diseases, and breast cancer may be influenced by competing stimulatory and inhibitory effects mediated by adipokines. This concept may reveal new tools for the development of adipopharmacology of inflammatory disease.
Biomedical Reviews 2005; 16: 83-88.
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