Research
Hormonal
Adiponectin normally suppresses VAT T-cell inflammation by inhibiting T-cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis, but its levels are reduced in obesity, thereby releasing the 'brake' on inflammatory T-cell responses.
Low levels of adiponectin in obesity remove a natural 'brake' on inflammation. Maintaining or boosting adiponectin (often through exercise and weight management) may help keep immune cells in fat tissue from becoming overly inflammatory.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
In general, most T cells store the adiponectin receptors... adiponectin acts as a negative regulator of effector T cells by suppressing T-cell proliferation and cytokine production and promoting apoptosis... obesity decreases adiponectin receptor expression... The reduction in VAT-derived adiponectin may affect systemic immune function and contribute to the development of obesity-specific inflammatory conditions.
Why this rating
Supported by in vitro and in vivo studies cited in the review.
Source
Drastic transformation of visceral adipose tissue and peripheral CD4 T cells in obesity
Kohsuke Shirakawa et al. · Frontiers in Immunology · 2023
DOI 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1044737
narrative_reviewCited 26×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Obesity induces a state of CD4 T-cell exhaustion and senescence in visceral adipose tissue (VAT), characterized by persistent PD-1 expression and restricted effector function, which creates a negative legacy that persists after weight loss and contributes to treatment resistance.Good
- Leptin acts as a key initiator of VAT inflammation by promoting the differentiation of CD4 T cells into Th1 and Th17 subsets and inducing T-cell exhaustion via STAT3 signaling and PD-1 expression.Good
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