Institute of Life Sciences, School of Basic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
The First Clinical College, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 May 23;24(11):9136. doi: 10.3390/ijms24119136.
Loss of the β cell population is a crucial feature of type 2 diabetes. Restoring the β cell mass by stimulating β cell proliferation and preventing its apoptosis was proposed as a therapeutic approach to treating diabetes. Therefore, researchers have been increasingly interested in identifying exogenous factors that can stimulate β cell proliferation in situ and in vitro. Adipokine chemerin, which is secreted from adipose tissue and the liver, has been identified as a chemokine that plays a critical role in the regulation of metabolism. In this study, we demonstrate that chemerin as a circulating adipokine promotes β cell proliferation in vivo and in vitro. Chemerin serum levels and the expression of the main receptors within islets are highly regulated under a variety of challenging conditions, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. As compared to their littermates, mice overexpressing chemerin had a larger islet area and increased β cell mass with both a normal and high-fat diet. Moreover, in chemerin-overexpressed mice, we observed improved mitochondrial homeostasis and increased insulin synthesis. In summary, our findings confirm the potential role of chemerin as an inducer of β cell proliferation, and they provide novel insights into the helpful strategy to expand β cell population.
β 细胞群的丧失是 2 型糖尿病的一个关键特征。通过刺激 β 细胞增殖和防止其凋亡来恢复 β 细胞质量，被提出作为治疗糖尿病的一种治疗方法。因此，研究人员越来越有兴趣确定可以在原位和体外刺激 β 细胞增殖的外源性因素。脂肪因子 chemerin 由脂肪组织和肝脏分泌，被鉴定为一种在调节代谢中起关键作用的趋化因子。在这项研究中，我们证明 chemerin 作为一种循环脂肪因子，可促进体内和体外 β 细胞的增殖。在各种挑战条件下，包括肥胖和 2 型糖尿病，chemerin 的血清水平和胰岛内主要受体的表达都受到高度调节。与它们的同窝仔相比，过表达 chemerin 的小鼠在正常和高脂肪饮食下具有更大的胰岛面积和增加的 β 细胞质量。此外，在过表达 chemerin 的小鼠中，我们观察到线粒体稳态得到改善和胰岛素合成增加。总之，我们的研究结果证实了 chemerin 作为 β 细胞增殖诱导剂的潜在作用，并为扩大 β 细胞群体提供了新的见解。
