The cold-induced lipokine 12,13-diHOME promotes fatty acid transport into brown adipose tissue

Nature Medicine 23, 631 (2017). doi:10.1038/nm.4297 Authors: Matthew D Lynes, Luiz O Leiria, Morten Lundh, Alexander Bartelt, Farnaz Shamsi, Tian Lian Huang, Hirokazu Takahashi, Michael F Hirshman, Christian Schlein, Alexandra Lee, Lisa A Baer, Francis J May, Fei Gao, Niven R Narain, Emily Y Chen, Michael A Kiebish, Aaron M Cypess, Matthias Blüher, Laurie J Goodyear, Gökhan S Hotamisligil, Kristin I Stanford & Yu-Hua Tseng Brown adipose tissue (BAT) and beige adipose tissue combust fuels for heat production in adult humans, and so constitute an appealing target for the treatment of metabolic disorders such as obesity, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Cold exposure can enhance energy expenditure by activating BAT, and it has been shown to improve nutrient metabolism. These therapies, however, are time consuming and uncomfortable, demonstrating the need for pharmacological interventions. Recently, lipids have been identified that are released from tissues and act locally or systemically to promote insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance; as a class, these lipids are referred to as 'lipokines'. Because BAT is a specialized metabolic tissue that takes up and burns lipids and is linked to systemic metabolic homeostasis, we hypothesized that there might be thermogenic lipokines that activate BAT in response to cold. Here we show that the lipid 12,13-dihydroxy-9Z-octadecenoic acid (12,13-diHOME) is a stimulator of BAT activity, and that its levels are negatively ...
Source: Nature Medicine - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Letter Source Type: research