White fat that accumulates in the abdominal area has a greater risk of disease than that which is usually under the skin on the hips and thighs. Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Boston University have discovered different types of white fat cells, even within a single body site, that play different roles in disease.
Finding the mechanisms underlying these differences could lead to new therapies for diabetes, obesity, and related diseases, according to research director C. Ronald Kahn. Previous studies have identified various types of white fat cells in muses. According to Kahn, however, the current survey is the first to have proven such in humans.
Fat cells from pradipocytes or progenitor cells develop within the adipose tissue. When they mature, their patterns of gene expression change. Single cell RNA sequencing examines these patterns on a cell-by-cell basis, providing extremely accurate insight into the differences in these patterns between cells.
The collaboration between the Joslin Diabetes Center and Boston University began with two sets of single cell RNA sequencing data from human pradipocytes that matured in the laboratory. They came from healthy people. The data were analyzed using a new mathematical approach. The analysis revealed two subspecies of white subcutaneous fat, which had characteristic patterns of gene expression. One subspecies showed patterns that indicated a much higher intake of glucose.
According to the researchers, zinc nuclear finger genes, a group of major regulatory genes whose function in fat cells have not been well researched, are expressed in much larger amounts in a class of pradipocytes. This expression could help control which cells become mature fat cells. According to Kahn, the scientists assume that the research results published in ‘Nature Communications’ are only the tip of the iceberg.
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