title: Adipose tissue macrophages: a piece of the PAI of metabolic syndrome.
abstract: A body of research has strongly implicated inflammation in the genesis of obesity-associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. An outstanding issue is how obesity-induced metabolic signals are translated into an inflammatory response. In this issue of Science Translational Medicine, Kishore et al. demonstrate that the action of free fatty acids on adipose tissue macrophages dynamically regulates the expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, a serine protease inhibitor that suppresses the breakdown of blood clots. Their data suggest that these macrophages sit in a specialized microenvironment that senses metabolic signals from fat cells and the circulation and integrates them to produce an inflammatory signal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, and Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. clumeng@umich.edu
authors.forename: Carey N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Lumeng
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009765:Obesity / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1