B lymphocytes as emerging mediators of insulin resistance.
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ABSTRACT: Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation of various tissues including visceral adipose tissue (VAT), which contributes to insulin resistance. T cells and macrophages infiltrate VAT in obesity and orchestrate this inflammation. Recently, we made the surprising discovery that B cells are important contributors to this process. Thus, some B cells and the antibodies they produce can promote VAT-associated and systemic inflammation, leading to insulin resistance. This report will focus on the properties of these B cells, and how they contribute to insulin resistance through T-cell modulation and production of pathogenic autoantibodies. Understanding the mechanisms by which B cells contribute to insulin resistance should lead to new antibody-based diagnostics and B-cell modulating therapeutics to manage this increasingly prevalent disease.
SUBMITTER: Winer DA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4109086 | biostudies-other | 2012 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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