Adropin deficiency worsens HFD-induced metabolic defects

• Published in: Cell death & disease Vol. 8; no. 8; p. e3008
• Main Authors: Chen, Shi, Zeng, Kai, Liu, Qi-cai, Guo, Zheng, Zhang, Sheng, Chen, Xiao-rong, Lin, Jian-hua, Wen, Jun-ping, Zhao, Cheng-fei, Lin, Xin-hua, Gao, Feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.08.2017; Springer Nature B.V; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38/23; 631/208/2489/144; 631/208/737; 692/699/1503/1712; 692/699/2743/137/773; Adipocytes; Animals; Antibodies; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Blood Proteins - deficiency; Cell Biology; Cell Culture; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - pathology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - therapy; Diet, High-Fat - adverse effects; Fat metabolism; Female; Genetic diversity; Homeostasis; Humans; Immunology; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Life Sciences; Lymphocytes T; Metabolic disorders; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Middle Aged; Nitric oxide; Nitric-oxide synthase; Obesity - complications; Obesity - pathology; Original; original-article; Pancreas; Pancreas - pathology; Peptides - deficiency; Phosphorylation; Proteins
• ISSN: 2041-4889; 2041-4889
• DOI: 10.1038/cddis.2017.362

The limited efficacy of current treatment methods and increased type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) incidence constitute an incentive for investigating how metabolic homeostasis is maintained, to improve treatment efficacy and identify novel treatment methods. We analyzed a three-generation family of Chinese origin with the common feature of T2DM attacks and fatty pancreas (FP), alongside 19 unrelated patients with FP and 58 cases with T2DM for genetic variations in Enho , serum adropin, and relative T reg amounts. Functional studies with adropin knockout (AdrKO) in C57BL/6J mice were also performed. It showed serum adropin levels were significantly lower in FP and T2DM patients than in healthy subjects; relative T reg amounts were also significantly decreased in FP and T2DM patients, and positively associated with adropin ( r =0.7220, P =0.0001). Sequencing revealed that the patients shared a Cys56Trp mutation in Enho . In vivo , adropin-deficiency was associated with increased severity of glucose homeostasis impairment and fat metabolism disorder. AdrKO mice exhibited reduced endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation (Ser1177), impaired glycosphingolipid biosynthesis, adipocytes infiltrating, and loss of T reg , and developed FP and T2DM. Adropin-deficiency contributed to loss of T reg and the development of FP disease and T2DM.