Human adipocyte proteomics - a complementary way of looking at fat

Abstract

As little as 100 years ago, and for some of the world’s population even today, starvation was and is a predominant component of our nutritional state. Adipose evolved as an efficient energy storage depot to sustain life during such prolonged periods of fasting. However, adipose has been largely overlooked in the study of the process of controlling energy balance. Interest in adipose has increased in parallel with adiposity in modern affluent western society. In the last decade, it has become apparent that adipose is an active player in the management of energy storage, transfer and utilisation, rather than just a passive storage facility. Genomics has facilitated the renaissance of a new understanding of the repertoire of genes expressed in adipose and has supported its regulatory role in energy metabolism. However, significant differences exist between rodent and human adipose biology which have led to some unexpected failures in clinical trials. Recently, leptin showed great promise in rodents as an anti-obesity therapeutic, but has not readily translated to human therapy. We propose that the study of human adipose will greatly facilitate the understanding of human adipose pathologies and metabolic imbalances. Genomics approaches will continue to yield novel genes expressed in adipose; however, it will become increasingly important to study the expression of the proteome to relate these genes to function. We have chosen to focus this review on the secreted proteome of human adipose, as this most directly reflects the endocrine role of this tissue in metabolism.