Adipocyte (Jan 2021)

The roles of T cells in obese adipose tissue inflammation

  • Qiong Wang,
  • Yurong Wang,
  • Danyan Xu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/21623945.2021.1965314
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 435 – 445

Abstract

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Adipose tissue inflammation in obese patients can cause a series of metabolic diseases. There are a variety of immune cells in adipose tissue, and studies have shown that T cells are associated with adipose tissue inflammation. This review aims to describe the current understanding of the relationship between T cells and adipose tissue inflammation, with a focus on regulation by T cell subtypes. Studies have shown that Th1, Th17 and CD8+ T cells, which are important T cell subsets, can promote the development of adipose tissue inflammation, whereas Treg cells protect against inflammation, suggesting that targeting the mechanism by which T cell subtypes regulate adipose tissue inflammation is a potential therapeutic strategy for treating obesity. T cells play important roles in regulating obesity-associated adipose tissue inflammation, thus providing new research directions for the treatment of obesity. More studies are needed to clarify how T cell subtypes regulate adipose tissue inflammation to identify new treatments for obesity.

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