title: The Complex Roles of Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin in Adipocytes and Beyond.
abstract: Having healthy adipose tissue is essential for metabolic fitness. This is clear from the obesity epidemic, which is unveiling a myriad of comorbidities associated with excess adipose tissue including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Lipodystrophy also causes insulin resistance, emphasizing the importance of having a balanced amount of fat. In cells, the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) complexes 1 and 2 (mTORC1 and mTORC2, respectively) link nutrient and hormonal signaling with metabolism, and recent studies are shedding new light on their in vivo roles in adipocytes. In this review, we discuss how recent advances in adipose tissue and mTOR biology are converging to reveal new mechanisms that maintain healthy adipose tissue, and discuss ongoing mysteries of mTOR signaling, particularly for the less understood complex mTORC2.
authors.affiliation: Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 373 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
authors.forename: Peter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 373 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
authors.forename: Su Myung
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 373 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605, USA. Electronic address: david.guertin@umassmed.edu.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Guertin
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008060:Lipodystrophy / Q000378:metabolism*; D000076222:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D000076225:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 2 / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000076222:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1; D000076225:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 2