Research
Hormonal
Macrophage accumulation and polarization towards a proinflammatory (M1-like) state in adipose tissue is the dominant mechanism driving insulin resistance in obesity.
Your fat cells aren't just storage; they recruit immune cells called macrophages when overfilled. These macrophages release inflammatory signals that block insulin. Reducing this inflammation, potentially through weight loss or anti-inflammatory strategies, is crucial for fixing insulin resistance.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Macrophages are the most abundant immune cell type accumulating in obese adipose tissue and liver. Moreover, these cells are the main immune cells secreting most of the inflammatory cytokines... and depletion of macrophages corrects insulin resistance and glucose tolerance in obese mice.
Why this rating
Extensive evidence from genetic depletion studies, macrophage depletion via clodronate liposomes, and human tissue analysis.
Source
Chronic tissue inflammation and metabolic disease
Yun Sok Lee et al. · Genes & Development · 2021
DOI 10.1101/gad.346312.120
narrative_reviewCited 310×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Chronic tissue inflammation, driven by obesity-induced macrophage accumulation and proinflammatory cytokine release, is a major etiologic cause of insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction in metabolic disease.Good
- Chronic inflammation in pancreatic islets, driven by macrophage infiltration and proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-23, IL-24), causes beta-cell dysfunction and reduced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) in Type 2 Diabetes.Good
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