Project description:Adipose tissue stromal cells contribute to the regulation of adipose tissue in lean and obese states. Myeloid cells such as adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) and dendritic cells (ATDCs) undergo both quantitative and qualitative changes with obesity. Due to similarity in markers the identify of adipose tissue dendritic cells and macrophages has been elusive. We have refined prior protocols to unambiguously discern ATM and ATDC in mice. We used microarrays to compare the profiles of ATMs and ATDC from gonadal adipose tissue from lean, obese, and formerly obese mice. We also isolated preadipocytes (PA) from lean and obese mice for comparison. Male C57Bl/6 mice were fed normal diet (ND) or high fat diet (HFD) for 16 weeks. Weight loss (WL) mice were switched from the HFD to ND for 8 weeks. RNA was purified from FACS sorted cell populations (live cells only) obtained from gonadal/epididymal adipose tissue depots. ATMs were defined as CD11c+ (CD45+CD64+ CD11c+) or CD11c- (CD45+CD64+ CD11c-) ATMs. ATDC were defined as CD64- CD11c+. PA were defined as CD31- CD45- Sca1+ PDGFRA+.
Project description:Obesity is a frightening chronic disease, which has tripled since 1975. It is not expected to slow down staying one of the leading cases of preventable death and resulting in an increased clinical and economic burden. Poor lifestyle choices and excessive intake of “cheap calories” are major contributors to obesity, triggering type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other comorbidities. Understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for development of obesity is essential as it might result in development of early-stage obesity biomarkers, allowing distinguish between metabolic syndromes and anti-obesity targets. The complex nature of this disease, coupled with the phenomenon of metabolically healthy obesity, inspired us to perform data-centric, hypothesis-generating pilot research, aimed to find correlations between parameters of classic clinical blood tests and proteomic profiles of 104 lean and obese subjects. As the result, we assembled patterns of proteins, which presence or absence allows predicting the weight of the patient fairly well. We believe that such proteomic patterns with high prediction power should facilitate the translation of potential candidates into biomarkers of clinical use for early-stage stratification of obesity therapy.
Project description:This program addresses the molecular basis of beta-cell failure associated with the development of type 2 diabetes in the db/db mice. Specifically, which genes are differentially expressed in pancreatic islets of the db/db mice compared to the control db/+ mice?
Project description:Influenza A virus (IAV) causes a wide range of extra-respiratory complications, ranging from central nervous system disease to cardiac disease. Obesity/overweight has previously been identified as a susceptibility factor for both severe influenza and cardiac disease. We therefore sought to investigate the systemic pathogenesis of influenza in an obese mouse model with a focus on cardiac complications of influenza.