Fit-The-Fat · IMMUNOMETABOLISM IN HUMAN OBESITY
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-09-01 → 2019-08-31
- EU contribution
- €180,277
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
IMMUNOMETABOLISM IN HUMAN OBESITY
In this project, I aimed to investigate the role of immune cells in the context of human obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D), conditions tightly associated with insulin-resistance (i.e. resistance of tissues to insulin action). In particular, I studied T cells localized in the visceral fat of obese patients with and without T2D to elucidate whether they are relevant for the local inflammation occurring in the context of insulin-resistance. Identification of one or more T cell subsets with the potential to induce local inflammation and sustain insulin-resistance may help elucidating alternative mechanisms of T2D and promote the development of novel therapies for this disease. The question that I attempted to address with this project is: what are the features and functional properties of T cells at the site where inflammation is ongoing in human obesity? And what changes occur when T2D develops in this context? Thanks to this project I assessed the profile of T cell subsets in the visceral fat of obese patients with and without T2D and identified a subset with a proinflammatory profile endowed with the potential to induce insulin-resistance.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are inexorably increasing and elevated healthcare costs related to the higher disease-associated morbidity are affecting European and extra-European countries. Obesity is associated with resistance to the action of insulin (called insulin-resistance) in adipocytes, which is thought to be induced by a low-grade inflammation present in the adipose tissue. Bariatric surgery has been described as the most effective treatment for obesity; however, the pursuit of non-invasive strategies to override obesity-induced insulin-resistance, promote weight loss and restoration of glycemic control is highly needed. In this project will be investigated the hypothesis that T cells residing in the visceral adipose tissue (VAT) are endowed with immunological and metabolic properties that are altered in obese patients and that, in turn, induce insulin-resistance in adipocytes. The following specific Objectives will be accomplished during the fellowship: I. Determine identity, metabolic demands and immunological functions of human VAT-T cells in obese patients and lean subjects; II. Assess the metabolic properties of human VAT-T cells in obese patients and lean subjects; III. Target VAT-T cell-mediated mechanisms of insulin-resistance. In this project, clinical expertise on diabetes and competences in tissue-specific T cell immunology will be merged with cutting-edge technologies in the cellular and molecular biology of diabetes as well as active support from a broad network of collaborators in the field of cell metabolism. The proposed research project has the scientific, structural and institutional support to bring new knowledge on T cell metabolic demand and functional properties in human obesity and lead to the discovery of new pathways involved in the induction of insulin-resistance, ultimately fostering advances in the field of Immunometabolism as well as the applicant’s career development.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- OSPEDALE SAN RAFFAELE SRL · MilanoCoordinatorItaly
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union