title: Perilipin 2 and Age-Related Metabolic Diseases: A New Perspective.
abstract: Perilipin 2 (Plin2), a protein associated with the metabolism of intracellular lipid droplets (LDs), has long been considered only for its role in lipid storage. However, the manipulation of its expression affects the severity of a variety of metabolic and age-related diseases, such as fatty liver, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, sarcopenia, and cancer, suggesting that this protein may play a role in these pathological conditions. In particular, its downregulation in mice prevents or mitigates some of the above mentioned diseases. Conversely, in humans high levels of Plin2 are present in sarcopenia, hepatic steatosis, atherosclerosis, and some types of cancer. We propose that inhibition of Plin2 might be a strategy to counteract several metabolic and age-related diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic, and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Centre 'L. Galvani' (CIG), University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: m.conte@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.affiliation: IRCCS, Institute of Neurological Sciences of Bologna, 40139 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy; Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, 35129 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sandri
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic, and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Centre 'L. Galvani' (CIG), University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salvioli
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000070780:Perilipin-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000070780:Perilipin-2
keywords: ectopic lipid deposition; lipid droplets; metabolic diseases; perilipin 2