title: Interleukin-15 treatment improves glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in obese mice.
abstract: The prevalence of metabolic diseases associated with obesity, such as type 2 diabetes, continues to rise along with obesity rates. Recently, obesity has been described as an inflammatory condition, suggesting a link between the dysregulation in proinflammatory cytokine production and the aetiology of these metabolic diseases. While known as an immunomodulatory cytokine, Interleukin-15 (IL-15) has been shown to have effects on adipose tissue and induce weight loss in diet-induced obese mice. As weight loss improves glucose homeostasis, the goal of this study was to determine whether IL-15 impacts glucose regulation in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity. Our data demonstrate that IL-15 treatment significantly improves insulin sensitivity and glucose and insulin responses to an oral glucose challenge compared to obese counterparts and/or lean controls. These results show that IL-15 may be a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of obesity and its associated abnormal glucose regulation.
authors: Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Centre for Gene Therapeutics and Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors: N G
authors: NG
authors: Barra
authors: M V
authors: MV
authors: Chew
authors: A C
authors: AC
authors: Holloway
authors: A A
authors: AA
authors: Ashkar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008820:Mice, Obese; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D019409:Interleukin-15