title: Adipsin and complement factor D activity: an immune-related defect in obesity.
abstract: Adipsin is a serine protease that is secreted by adipocytes into the bloodstream; it is deficient in several animal models of obesity, representing a striking example of defective gene expression in this disorder. Recombinant mouse adipsin was purified and its biochemical and enzymatic properties were studied in order to elucidate the function of this protein. Activated adipsin has little or no proteolytic activity toward most substrates but has the same activity as human complement factor D, cleaving complement factor B when it is complexed with activated complement component C3. Like authentic factor D, adipsin can activate the alternative pathway of complement, resulting in red blood cell lysis. Decreased (58 to 80 percent) complement factor D activity, relative to lean controls, was observed as a common feature of several experimental models of obesity, including the ob/ob, db/db, and monosodium glutamate (MSG)-injected mouse and the fa/fa rat. These results suggest that adipsin and the alternative pathway of complement may play an unexpected but important role in the regulation of systemic energy balance in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yaglom
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Groves
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Volanakis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Damm
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Spiegelman
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D003166:Complement Activating Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D011416:Complement Factor D / Q000378:metabolism*; D003170:Complement Pathway, Alternative; D006224:Cricetinae; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004247:DNA; D003166:Complement Activating Enzymes; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C493488:CFD protein, human; D011416:Complement Factor D; C493491:complement factor D, mouse