School of Life Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, Sector 30, Gandhinagar - 382030, Gujarat, India.
Curr Mol Med. 2018;18(2):116-125. doi: 10.2174/1566524018666180705114131.
Visfatin is one of the prominent adipokines secreted by adipose tissue. The level of visfatin increases significantly in persons with obesity owing to increased body mass index (BMI). During obesity, the adipocytes, which populate adipose tissue, undergo hypertrophy and hyperplasia and secrete a number of adipocytokines including visfatin. Visfatin, which also acts as an enzyme nicotinamide phosphoribosyl transferase, is one of the prominent adipokines that influence metabolic homeostasis in the body. Visfatin exists in two forms, extracellular and intracellular, and enacts a multitude of actions. The direct and indirect evidence gathered from in-vitro, in-vivo and clinical studies indicate that visfatin modulates obesity and metabolic syndrome-related pathophysiological activities including enhanced inflammation, angiogenesis, synthesis of NAD mononucleotide, and upregulation of antiapoptotic proteins in a number of cell types. It has been implicated in a number of obesity-related alterations and metabolic derangement such as diabetes, cardiovascular complications and some forms of cancers. In this review, the novel hypothesis about the role of visfatin in diabesity has been proposed which implies recent advances in studies about the pathophysiological roles of visfatin during obesity and chronic high glucose in the circulation. Visfatin at high concentration attracts immune cells and produces chronic inflammation in adipocytes. Additionally, it induces insulin resistance in many tissues and causes pancreatic beta cells dysfunction at later stages. Further, its potential as an important target to develop molecular medicine in diabesity and related metabolic syndrome has been highlighted.
内脂素是脂肪组织分泌的主要脂肪因子之一。由于体重指数（BMI）增加，肥胖人群的内脂素水平显著升高。在肥胖期间，填充脂肪组织的脂肪细胞发生肥大和增生，并分泌包括内脂素在内的多种脂肪细胞因子。内脂素还作为烟酰胺磷酸核糖基转移酶发挥作用，是影响体内代谢平衡的主要脂肪因子之一。内脂素有细胞外和细胞内两种形式，发挥多种作用。来自体外、体内和临床研究的直接和间接证据表明，内脂素调节肥胖和代谢综合征相关的病理生理活动，包括增强炎症、血管生成、NAD 单核苷酸的合成以及多种细胞类型中抗凋亡蛋白的上调。它与许多肥胖相关的改变和代谢紊乱有关，如糖尿病、心血管并发症和某些形式的癌症。在这篇综述中，提出了内脂素在糖尿病肥胖中的作用的新假说，这暗示了在肥胖和循环中慢性高葡萄糖期间内脂素的病理生理作用的研究的最新进展。高浓度的内脂素吸引免疫细胞并在脂肪细胞中产生慢性炎症。此外，它在许多组织中诱导胰岛素抵抗，并在后期导致胰腺β细胞功能障碍。进一步强调了其作为开发糖尿病肥胖和相关代谢综合征的分子医学的重要靶点的潜力。
