Fat fighters found in fat tissue

Researchers at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have found that a type of immune system cell once thought rare in humans is actually plentiful in fat cells and protects against obesity and the metabolic syndrome that leads to diabetes.

Research published online today in the journal Immunity finds that invariant natural killer T-cells (iNKT), immune cells known to influence inflammatory responses, are lost when humans become obese but can be restored through weight loss. The work suggests that therapies that activate iNKT cells could help manage obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disease.

iNKT cells had been thought to be rare in humans until work by Lydia Lynch, a research fellow in medicine at Beth Israel, found they were plentiful in human fat, also known as adipose tissue.

“Our previous work had revealed a large population of iNKT cells in fat tissue in both mice and humans,” said Lynch, a research fellow in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at BIDMC and the study’s first author. “Now we have identified them in mice and identified a role for them in the regulation of body weight and the metabolic state, likely by regulating inflammation in adipose tissue.”...