Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul 02447, Korea.
East-West Bone & Joint Disease Research Institute, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Gandong-gu, Seoul 02447, Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 12;21(4):1219. doi: 10.3390/ijms21041219.
Adiponectin is the richest adipokine in human plasma, and it is mainly secreted from white adipose tissue. Adiponectin circulates in blood as high-molecular, middle-molecular, and low-molecular weight isoforms. Numerous studies have demonstrated its insulin-sensitizing, anti-atherogenic, and anti-inflammatory effects. Additionally, decreased serum levels of adiponectin is associated with chronic inflammation of metabolic disorders including Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and atherosclerosis. However, recent studies showed that adiponectin could have pro-inflammatory roles in patients with autoimmune diseases. In particular, its high serum level was positively associated with inflammation severity and pathological progression in rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. Thus, adiponectin seems to have both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. This indirectly indicates that adiponectin has different physiological roles according to an isoform and effector tissue. Knowledge on the specific functions of isoforms would help develop potential anti-inflammatory therapeutics to target specific adiponectin isoforms against metabolic disorders and autoimmune diseases. This review summarizes the current roles of adiponectin in metabolic disorders and autoimmune diseases.
脂联素是人体血浆中含量最丰富的脂肪因子，主要由白色脂肪组织分泌。脂联素在血液中以高分子、中分子和低分子质量同工型形式循环。大量研究表明其具有胰岛素增敏、抗动脉粥样硬化和抗炎作用。此外，脂联素血清水平降低与包括 2 型糖尿病、肥胖症和动脉粥样硬化在内的代谢紊乱性慢性炎症有关。然而，最近的研究表明，脂联素在自身免疫性疾病患者中可能具有促炎作用。特别是，其血清高水平与类风湿关节炎、慢性肾脏病和炎症性肠病的炎症严重程度和病理进展呈正相关。因此，脂联素似乎具有促炎和抗炎作用。这间接表明，根据同工型和效应组织，脂联素有不同的生理作用。对同工型特定功能的了解将有助于开发针对代谢紊乱和自身免疫性疾病的潜在抗炎治疗方法，针对特定的脂联素同工型。本文综述了脂联素在代谢紊乱和自身免疫性疾病中的作用。
