Protection from diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance in mice lacking CCL19-CCR7 signaling.

Objective: Several chemokines play important roles in recruiting the monocyte/macrophage lineage into adipose tissues. We previously found CCL19 was highly expressed in adipocytes cocultured with macrophages stimulated by endotoxin. This study aimed to evaluate the role of CCL19-CCR7 axis on obesity and insulin resistance.

The inflammation-lipocalin 2 axis may contribute to the development of chronic kidney disease.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important risk factor for coronary heart disease, and previous studies indicated the involvement of low-grade inflammation in the pathogenesis of CKD.

Methods: The study was designed to (i) identify and confirm genes and their products upregulated in mesangial cells cocultured with endotoxin-stimulated macrophages and (ii) determine the clinical relevance of genes and proteins upregulated in mesangial cells under inflammatory conditions by an epidemiological approach.

Results: DNA microarray analysis revealed upregulated expression of many genes and their products including several cytokines and chemokines, as well as the inflammatory marker, lipocalin 2 gene.