Metaflammation, NLRP3 Inflammasome Obesity and Metabolic Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Increasing prevalence of obesity gives rise to many problems associated with multiple morbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, sleep apnea and cancer. The mechanism of obesity is very complex, thus its link to various disease is poorly understood. This review highlights important concepts in our understanding of the pathogenesis of obesity and related complications.CONTENT: Many studies have tried to explore the exciting and puzzling links between metabolic homeostasis and inflammatory responses. A form of subclinical, low-grade systemic inflammation is known to be associated with both obesity and chronic disease. This, later called as "metaflammation", refers to metabolically triggered inflammation. The nutrient-sensing pathway and the immune response coordination are facilitated by these molecular sites in order to maintain homeostasis under diverse metabolic and immune conditions. Recent studies have found that the NLRP3 inflammasome during metabolic stress forms a tie linking TXNIP, oxidative stress, and IL-1β production. This provides new opportunities for research and therapy for the disease often described as the next global pandemic: type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).SUMMARY: The crucial role of metaflammation in many complications of obesity shown by the unexpected overlap between inflammatory and metabolic sensors and their downstream tissue responses. Then great interest arose to explore the pathways that integrate nutrient and pathogen sensing, give more understanding in the mechanisms of insulin resistance type 2 diabetes, and other chronic metabolic pathologies. A family of intracellular sensors called NLR family is a critical component of the innate immune system. They can form multiprotein complexes, called inflammasome which is capable of responding to a wide range of stimuli including both microbial and self molecules by activating the cysteine protease caspase-1, leading to processing and secretion of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18, which play crucial roles in host defense. Inflammasome dysregulation has been linked to some autoinflammatory and metabolic diseases. These provide opportunities to continue to improve our understanding of the nature of metaflammation in the hope of modifying it to prevent and treat diseasese.KEYWORDS: Inflammation, metaflammation, inflammasome, metabolic disease, obesity