title: Lipid metabolites as metabolic messengers in inter-organ communication.
abstract: Metabolic homeostasis is achieved through coordinated regulation across several tissues. Studies using mouse genetic models have shown that perturbation of specific pathways of lipid metabolism in metabolically active tissues impacts systemic metabolic homeostasis. The use of metabolomic technologies combined with genetic models has helped to identify several potential lipid mediators that serve as metabolic messengers to communicate energy status and modulate substrate utilization among tissues. When provided exogenously, these lipid metabolites exhibit biological effects on glucose and lipid metabolism, indicating a therapeutic potential for treating metabolic diseases. In this review we summarize recent advances in inter-organ communication through novel mechanisms, with a focus on lipid mediators synthesized de novo or derived from dietary sources, and discuss challenges and future directions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, Division of Biological Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Sihao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, Division of Biological Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, Division of Biological Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: clee@hsph.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Chih-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005947:Glucose
keywords: BAIBA; PPARs; Tregs; lipid metabolites; lipogenesis; metabolic flexibility