Adipocyte serine uptake curbs ROS generation and visceral adiposity [Human]
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Obesity, and visceral adiposity in particular, increases the risk of common metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several forms of cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for regional fat storage remain poorly characterized, preventing therapeutic innovation. We here applied a systematic genome-wide screen and translational approach, where human primary preadipocytes were isolated from liposuction aspirate and differentiated. At day 7 of differentiation, cells were treated with BMS-466442 or vehicle (DMSO) for 24 hours. After incubation, cells were lysed, and RNA was purified, DNase treated, and the RNA integrity number was checked. Subsequently, cDNA libraries were generated via the TruSeq Stranded mRNA Library Prep kit and sequenced by Illumina Hiseq 4000.
Project description:Obesity, and visceral adiposity in particular, increases the risk of common metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several forms of cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for regional fat storage remain poorly characterized, preventing therapeutic innovation. We here applied a systematic genome-wide screen and translational approach, and discovered a novel role for the adipocyte-expressed neutral amino acid transporter SLC7A10/ASC-1 in the regulation of visceral adiposity. Among 65 genes showing both adipose depot-dependent and fat loss-dependent expression, 27 genes further showed significant correlations with waist-to-hip (WHR) ratio adjusted for BMI. Among these ASC-1 was expressed at the highest level in isolated visceral adipocytes. Further, we found decreased ASC-1 mRNA in visceral, and not subcutaneous adipose tissue, in carriers of the KLF14 type 2 diabetes risk allele compared to the protective allele. By profiling amino acid fluxes during adipocyte differentiation in vitro, we found that ASC-1 inhibition by a selective inhibitor decreased adipocyte uptake particularly of serine in mature adipocytes. Interestingly, radiometric amino acid uptake assays showed ASC-1 dependent uptake of the serine D-enantiomere. Using primary human and murine adipocyte models, we uncovered marked effects of inhibiting ASC-1 on mitochondrial respiratory capacity (within hours) and lipid accumulation (within days). Finally, Asc-1 knockout (KO) zebrafish had increased body weight and adipocyte enlargement upon eight-week overfeeding compared to wild-type (WT) fish. RNA sequencing data from zebrafish adipose tissue showed up-regulation of genes involved in fatty acid and lipid metabolism in the ASC-1 KOs, consistent with the increased lipid accumulation in the inhibitor-treated cell models. Additionally, duox, an enzyme involved in ROS generation, showed higher expression in the KOs compared to the WTs. Importantly, we confirmed increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation (within minutes and within hours) when inhibiting ASC-1 in our in vitro cell models. Our study points to increased ROS generation and reduced mitochondrial respiratory capacity as central early mechanisms in development of visceral adiposity, and a role for adipocyte D-serine transport via ASC-1 in these processes. Enhancing ASC-1 expression and/or activity in adipocytes, likely through primary effects on one-carbon metabolism and redox balance, is a promising therapeutic strategy for reducing visceral adiposity and related diseases.
Project description:Obesity is a pandemic health problem with poor solutions, especially for targeted treatment. Here we develop a polycation-based nanomedicine to selectively target visceral adiposity, the more metabolically detrimental and manipulation-resistant fat. We demonstrated that the polycationic polymer polyamidoamine (PAMAM) generation 3 (P-G3) was specifically enriched in the visceral fat due to its high charge density when delivered intraperitoneally. Moreover, P-G3 treatment of obese mice inhibited visceral adiposity, increased energy expenditure, prevented obesity, and alleviated the associated metabolic dysfunctions. In vitro adipogenesis models and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) revealed that P-G3 paradoxically uncouples the defining function of adipocyte - lipid synthesis and storage - from adipocyte development to create unique “dwarf” adipocytes that possess normal adipocyte functions but are deficient in hypertrophic growth at least through synergistically modulating NAD and mTOR pathways. The visceral fat distribution of P-G3 was further enhanced by modifying P-G3 with cholesterol to form lipophilic nanoparticles, which were also effective in treating obesity. Our study highlights an unexpected strategy to tackle visceral adiposity and champions a new direction of exploring cationic nanomaterials for treating metabolic diseases.
Project description:Accumulation of visceral fat around internal organs, is a strong risk predictor for cardiometabolic disease. Although fat deposition at distinct anatomical sites is influenced by genetic factors their functional mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we show ENPP6 as a neural determinant of selectively visceral adiposity. Through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) body composition analysis in 1,301 individuals from the isolated population of Orkney, we identified low-frequency variants at 4q35.1 associated with a reduction of DXA fat distribution (rs144607341/rs17583822, P = 2.7 x 10-10/ 2.0 x 10-9). A decrease in abdominal fat% and visceral fat mediate the altered fat distribution. We replicated these associations in 3,219 Icelanders for abdominal fat mass by computerized-tomography (P = 0.02/ 0.003). Rs17583822 and nearby SNPs mapped within the second intron of ENPP6 that is predicted as a site of transcriptional regulator. We observed close proximity of these variants and the promoter of ENPP6 by 3D-fluorescent in situ hybridization (3D-FISH) in human neurons but not in adipocytes, supporting a regulatory relationship in the brain. Moreover, enriched 5C interactions across the TAD containing ENPP6 and STOX2 in neurons, especially between a STOX2 intronic region and ENPP6 introns one and two, suggests that this region is more compact in cells where both genes are active and they both share cis regulatory elements. Enpp6 knockout mice exhibited reduced visceral fat, improved glucose tolerance, resistance to fatty liver, and maintenance of energy-dissipation of white fat depots when exposed to high fat diet. Our results reveal ENPP6 as a potential therapeutic target for selective accumulation of high-risk visceral obesity and diabetes.
Project description:BackgroundVisceral adiposity is an important risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases.ObjectiveTo determine whether the Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) is more effective than other adiposity indices in predicting visceral fat area (VFA).MethodsIn this single-center and cross-sectional study, we included patients aged 20-50 years, without diabetes and coronary artery disease, who underwent computed tomography (CT) including the third lumbar vertebra. Age, blood pressure, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference, fasting lipids, and glucose were assessed. VFA was measured by cross-sectional examination of CT. The correlation of WC, body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), lipid accumulation product (LAP), visceral adiposity index (VAI), a body shape index (ABSI), body roundness index (BRI), and METS-VF with VFA was analyzed by correlation analysis. The cut-off values and area under the curve (AUC) for identifying increased VFA (>130 cm2) were determined.ResultsWe included 185 individuals with mean age 38.2 ± 8 and female predominance (58.4%). There was a significant positive correlation between all indices and VFA (p<0.001). ROC analysis revealed that METS-VF and WC demonstrated the highest predictive value for identifying increased VFA. In both men (p=0.001) and women (p<0.001), METS-VF (AUC 0.922 and 0.939, respectively) showed a significant superiority over ABSI (AUC 0.702 and 0.658, respectively), and VAI (AUC 0.731 and 0.725, respectively). Additionally, in women, its superiority over WHR (AUC 0.807) was also statistically significant (p=0.003). We identified a METS-VF cut-off point >6.4 in males >6.5 in females and WC cut-off point >88 cm in males (AUC 0.922), >90.5 cm in females (AUC 0.938).ConclusionMETS-VF is strongly associated with visceral adiposity and better to predict increased VFA. However, its superiority over WC, BMI, BRI, and LAP was not significant. The results emphasize that WC is more appealing as screening indicator for visceral adiposity considering its easy use.Clinical trial registry nameClinicaltrials.gov (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).Clinical trial registry urlhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05648409.Clinical trial registry numberNCT05648409.
Project description:BackgroundThere are established links between the accumulation of body fat as visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and the risk of developing obesity-associated metabolic disease. Previous studies have suggested that levels of intake of specific foods and nutrients are associated with VAT accumulation after accounting for total energy intake.ObjectiveThis study assessed associations between a priori selected dietary factors on VAT quantified using abdominal magnetic resonance imaging.MethodsThe cross-sectional Multiethnic Cohort Adiposity Phenotype Study included n = 395 White, n = 274 Black, n = 269 Native Hawaiian, n = 425 Japanese American and n = 358 Latino participants (mean age = 69 years ± 3 SD). Participants were enrolled stratified on sex, race, ethnicity and body mass index. General linear models were used to estimate the mean VAT area (cm2) for participants categorized into quartiles based on their dietary intake of selected foods/nutrients adjusting for age, sex, racial and ethnic groups, the total percentage fat from whole-body dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and total energy.ResultsThere were significant inverse associations with VAT for dietary intake of total vegetables, total fruits (including juice), cereals, whole grains, calcium, copper and dietary fiber (p-trend ≤0.04). Positive trends were observed for VAT for participants who reported higher intake of potatoes, total fat and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (p-trend ≤0.02). Foods/nutrients that met the multiple testing significance threshold were total fruits, whole grains, copper, dietary fiber and SFA intake.ConclusionsThese results highlight foods and nutrients including SFA, total fruit, whole grains, fiber and copper as potential candidates for future research to inform dietary guidelines for the prevention of chronic disease among older adults.
Project description:ObjectiveTo individuate a novel sex-specific index, based on waist circumference, BMI, triglycerides, and HDL cholesterol, indirectly expressing visceral fat function.Research design and methodsVisceral adiposity index (VAI) was first modeled on 315 nonobese healthy subjects. Using two multiple logistic regression models, VAI was retrospectively validated in 1,498 primary care patients in comparison to classical cardio- and cerebrovascular risk factors.ResultsAll components of metabolic syndrome increased significantly across VAI quintiles. VAI was independently associated with both cardiovascular (odd ratio [OR] 2.45; 95% CI 1.52-3.95; P < 0.001) and cerebrovascular (1.63; 1.06-2.50; P = 0.025) events. VAI also showed significant inverse correlation with insulin sensitivity during euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp in a subgroup of patients (R(s) = -0.721; P < 0.001). By contrast, no correlations were found for waist circumference and BMI.ConclusionsOur study suggests VAI is a valuable indicator of "visceral adipose function" and insulin sensitivity, and its increase is strongly associated with cardiometabolic risk.