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CHUNG, SOONKYU, Ph. D. Mechanisms by Which Conjugated ...

CHUNG, SOONKYU, Ph. D. Mechanisms by Which Conjugated ...

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in animals and some humans (reviewed in Pariza 2004; House et al. 2005). The potential<br />

use of CLA as a therapeutic strategy to prevent or treat human obesity has received recent<br />

attention in both popular and peer-reviewed publications. However, the isomer-specific,<br />

antiobesity mechanism of CLA remains largely unknown. Furthermore, there are only a<br />

few supplementation studies using specific CLA isomers that have examined CLA’s<br />

effectiveness and safety in humans (Riserus et al. 2004 a,b). Recent data from our lab<br />

using a human adipocyte model demonstrated that trans-10, cis-12 CLA decreased the<br />

triglyceride (TG) content of the cultures through cytokine/chemokine signaling, including<br />

interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 (Brown et al. 2004). Production of these “adipokines” <strong>by</strong><br />

CLA in cultures of human adipocytes raises a health concern, because proinflammatory<br />

adipokines are positively correlated with systemic dysregulation of metabolism including<br />

insulin resistance (reviewed in Wellen and Hotamisligil 2005). It is known that<br />

inflammatory stimuli elicit proinflammatory cytokine secretion through nuclear factor<br />

kappa B (NFκB)-dependent mechanisms in macrophages. Compared with the well-<br />

documented studies in macrophages, inflammation in fat tissue is a relatively new<br />

concept and less well understood. Evidence is slowly emerging that inflammation is a key<br />

player in the development of Metabolic Syndrome. However, identification of the<br />

mechanism <strong>by</strong> which CLA alters inflammation status in primary cultures of human<br />

adipocyte has been not reported. Furthermore, CLA appears to act through different cell<br />

signaling mechanisms depending on the species and tissue studied.<br />

Therefore, examination of isomer-specific cellular and molecular mechanisms<br />

elicited <strong>by</strong> CLA in primary cultures of human adipocytes offers a unique opportunity to<br />

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