Diet-induced obesity promotes infection by impairment of the innate antimicrobial defense function of dermal adipocyte progenitors.

ABSTRACT: Infections are a major complication of obesity, but the mechanisms responsible for impaired defense against microbes are not well understood. Here, we found that adipocyte progenitors were lost from the dermis during diet-induced obesity (DIO) in humans and mice. The loss of adipogenic fibroblasts from mice resulted in less antimicrobial peptide production and greatly increased susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus infection. The decrease in adipocyte progenitors in DIO mice was explained by expression of transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) by mature adipocytes that then inhibited adipocyte progenitors and the production of cathelicidin in vitro. Administration of a TGFβ receptor inhibitor or a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ agonist reversed this inhibition in both c

SUBMITTER: Zhang LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8164450 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature