Metabolic Regulation of Adipose Tissue Inflammation
Summary
Adipose tissue inflammation arises when metabolic cues disrupt the homeostatic balance between energy storage and immune signalling, driving chronic low-grade inflammation that underpins metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In healthy adipose depots, adipocytes, stromal cells and tissue-resident macrophages communicate via lipids, adipokines and cytokines to maintain tissue plasticity during nutrient excess or scarcity. However, sustained caloric overload leads to adipocyte hypertrophy, tissue hypoxia and endoplasmic reticulum stress, which in turn promote chemokine secretion and macrophage infiltration. Key regulatory nodes include insulin signalling pathways, nutrient-sensing kinases (such as mTOR and AMPK) and intercellular mediators—among them Wnt ligands and secreted Frizzled-related proteins—that orchestrate cross-talk between metabolic and inflammatory networks. Emerging work has highlighted how modulation of Wnt/β-catenin and non-canonical Wnt5a signalling, together with dynamic changes in adipokine repertoires, can shift adipose tissue from an anti-inflammatory to a pro-inflammatory state. Understanding these metabolic checkpoints offers routes to restore immunometabolic homeostasis, with broad implications for tackling obesity-related comorbidities on a global scale.
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Metabolic Regulation of Adipose Tissue Inflammation publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in metabolic regulation of adipose tissue inflammation across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Adipokine: A bioactive protein secreted by adipocytes that modulates metabolic and immune functions.
Wnt signalling: A family of pathways (canonical and non-canonical) governing cell differentiation, metabolism and inflammatory responses.
Insulin resistance: A state in which tissues fail to respond adequately to insulin, often linked to chronic inflammation in adipose depots.
Adipogenesis: The process of precursor cell differentiation into mature adipocytes, regulated by transcription factors and Wnt antagonists.
Macrophage infiltration: The recruitment of immune cells into adipose tissue, driving pro-inflammatory cytokine production.
NF-κB: A transcription factor central to the induction of inflammatory gene expression in response to metabolic stress.
References
- The Role of Secreted Frizzled-Related Protein 5 (Sfrp5) in Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence. Nutrients (2024).
- Pro-Inflammatory wnt5a and Anti-Inflammatory sFRP5 Are Differentially Regulated by Nutritional Factors in Obese Human Subjects. PLOS ONE (2012).
- Raloxifene inhibits adipose tissue inflammation and adipogenesis through Wnt regulation in ovariectomized rats and 3 T3-L1 cells. Journal of Biomedical Science (2019).
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