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Metabolism

Type 2 immunity at the origin of beige adipocytes

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 10, page 443 (2014)Cite this article

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The development of beige adipose tissue is mediated in large measure by innate immune cells and molecules, reveal two independent studies in mice published in the same issue of Cell.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) increases energy expenditure via heat dissipation in response to cold exposure or exercise. In classic brown adipocytes—which are present in rodents and human infants, but not in human adults—this thermogenic process is activated by pathways involving the central nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system. Beige adipocytes are brown-like adipocytes that exist within white adipose tissue (WAT) in adult humans, but how thermogenesis is triggered in beige adipocytes was unclear.

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References

  1. Rao, R. R. et al. Meteorin-like is a hormone that regulates immune–adipose interactions to increase beige fat thermogenesis. Cell 157, 1279–1291 (2014)

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  2. Qiu, Y. et al. Eosinophils and type 2 cytokine signaling in macrophages orchestrate development of functional beige fat. Cell 157, 1292–1308 (2014)

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  1. Joana Osório
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Osório, J. Type 2 immunity at the origin of beige adipocytes. Nat Rev Endocrinol 10, 443 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.99

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