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Inflammation and metabolic disorders.

Hotamisligil GS

Department of Genetics & Complex Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ghotamis@hsph.harvard.edu

Metabolic and immune systems are among the most fundamental requirements for survival. Many metabolic and immune response pathways or nutrient- and pathogen-sensing systems have been evolutionarily conserved throughout species. As a result, immune response and metabolic regulation are highly integrated and the proper function of each is dependent on the other. This interface can be viewed as a central homeostatic mechanism, dysfunction of which can lead to a cluster of chronic metabolic disorders, particularly obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Collectively, these diseases constitute the greatest current threat to global human health and welfare.

Published 14 December 2006 in Nature, 444(7121): 860-7.
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