Take me to the liver: adipose tissue macrophages coordinate hepatic neutrophil recruitment

In the lean, healthy state, adipose tissue (AT) has critical roles in maintaining organismal homeostasis. Paramount among the various roles of AT is the regulation of whole body metabolism. While adipocytes per se are key players in metabolic homeostasis, for example, by storing nutrients and releasing soluble factors, work over the last decade has revealed that AT-resident immune cells have a profound impact on AT function. Obesity is a risk factor for numerous conditions, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnoea and infertility. Obesity is also a major risk factor for the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an effect that is primarily attributable to increased hepatic lipid accumulation and inflammation. During the development of obesity, the AT expands and the AT-resident immune cell profile is dramatically altered,1 ultimately initiating AT inflammation and altered whole body metabolism. Most prominent among...

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