Abstract
Obesity has recently been defined as a chronic inflammatory disease and is considered as a major cause of adult health problems including incurable diseases like diabetes and cancer. In this study, the systemic immunity, including the innate and adaptive immunity parameters, of naturally occurring (leptin receptor mutation) obesity-diabetes mice (db/db) was examined to increase our knowledge of these mice for obesity-related studies. Severe fatty liver with blood engorgement was observed in the db/db mice. Compared to background C57BL/6J mice, the adaptive immunity, as measured by mitogen-induced T and B cell proliferation and cytokine release, was significantly suppressed in db/db mice. However, significant upregulation of innate immune-inflammatory parameters including macrophage function and NK cell activity was observed in db/db mice without external stimulation. These data conclusively confirm the systemic immune-inflammatory micro-environment with suppressed adaptive immunity of db/db mice, which may cause the secondary obesity-related life-threatening diseases like diabetes or cancer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Trayhurn, P. Adipocyte biology. Obesity Reviews 8Suppl 1:41–44 (2007).
Taleb, S. et al. Defective Leptin/Leptin receptor signaling imporves regulatory T cell immune response and protects mice from atherosclerosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 27:2691–2698 (2007).
Karagiannides, I. & Pothoulakis, C. Obesity, innate immunity and gut inflammation. Current Opinion in Gastroenterology 23:661–666 (2007).
Sopadakis, V., Nagaev, I. & Smith, U. Cytokine release from adpose tissue of nonobese individuals. International Journal of Obesity 29:1144–1147 (2005).
Mito, N. et al. Effect of obesity and insulin on immunity in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 56:347–351 (2002).
Nathan, C. Epidemic Inflammation: Pondering Obesity. Mol Med 14:485–492 (2008).
Dixit, V. D. Adipose-immune interactions during obesity and caloric restriction: reciprocal mechanisms regulating immunity and health span. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 84:882–892 (2008).
Tanaka, S. et al. T lymphopenia in genetically obese rats. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 86:219–225 (1998).
Fernandez-Real, N. & Pickup, J. Innate immunity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 19:10–16 (2008).
Jamal, S. et al. Adiposity compared with physical inactivity and risk of type 2 diabetes in women, Diabetes Care 30:53–58 (2007).
Sanchez-Margalet, V. et al. Role of leptin as an immunomodulator of blood mononuclear cells: mechanism of action. Clinical and Experimental Immunol 133:11–19 (2003).
Fantuzzi, G. & Faggioni, R. Leptin in the regulation of immunity, inflammation, and hematopoiesis. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 68:437–446 (2000).
Farooqi, I. et al. Beneficial effects of leptin on obesity, T cell hyporesponsiveness, and neuroendocrine/metabolic dysfunction of human congenital leptin deficiency. The Journal of Clinical Investigation 110:1093–1103 (2002).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
These authors contributed equally to this work
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, Se., Jang, Is., Park, Js. et al. Systemic immunity of obese-diabetes model (db/db) mice. Mol. Cell. Toxicol. 6, 143–149 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-010-0021-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-010-0021-6