Obesity Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Obesity, including details on health, diet, prevention, exercise.

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha in human adipose tissue -- from signalling mechanisms to clinical implications.

Rydén M, Arner P

Department of Medicine (H7), Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital at Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. mikael.ryden@ki.se

From its initial implication in the development of cachexia in the early 1980s, it is now almost 15 years ago that tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) was first shown to be involved in the development of insulin resistance in obesity. Since the original findings in mice, a wealth of data has been obtained in a variety of settings and species. This intensive research has demonstrated both similarities and differences between rodents and humans regarding the molecular mechanisms and metabolic consequences of TNF-alpha overexpression. This review will focus on the role of TNF-alpha in human white adipose tissue with particular emphasis on its regulation of lipolysis - an important pathway in adipocytes which is linked to insulin-resistant phenotypes in obesity and the metabolic syndrome.

Published 18 September 2007 in J Intern Med, 262(4): 431-8.
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