Publications by authors named "Sandhya Rajkumar"
Given the fast-increasing prevalence of obesity and its comorbidities, it would be critical to improve our understanding of the cell-type level differences between the two key human adipose tissue depots, subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT), in their depot-specific contributions to cardiometabolic health. We integrated cell-type level RNA- and ATAC-seq data from human SAT and VAT biopsies and cell-lines to comprehensively elucidate transcriptomic, epigenetic, and genetic differences between the two fat depots. We identify cell-type marker genes for tissue specificity and functional enrichment, and show through genome-wide association study (GWAS) and partitioned polygenic risk score (PRS) enrichment analyses that the marker genes upregulated in SAT adipocytes have more prominent roles in abdominal obesity than those of VAT.
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- Research on abdominal obesity highlighted that the rs10494217 variant in the TBX15 gene is linked to adipocyte health and the heritability of obesity.
- The frequency of this variant shows a geographical trend, decreasing from north to south, particularly evident in the Finnish population, suggesting an adaptive response to colder climates.
- Individuals with the risk allele exhibit changes in gene expression related to thermogenesis and unhealthy fat cell growth, indicating the variant's possible role in promoting abdominal obesity.
Article Synopsis
- Researchers studied the gene expression of adipocytes (fat cells) in both subcutaneous fat and heart tissue to understand their roles in cardiovascular health.
- The study revealed unique characteristics and functional pathways for heart-resident adipocytes, including the discovery of the propanoate metabolism pathway.
- Findings indicate that heart adipocytes have specific gene markers linked to coronary artery disease risk and show more communication pathways in the atria compared to the ventricles.
Background: Obesity predisposes individuals to multiple cardiometabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes (T2D). As body mass index (BMI) cannot reliably differentiate fat from lean mass, the metabolically detrimental abdominal obesity has been estimated using waist-hip ratio (WHR). Waist-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (WHRadjBMI) in turn is a well-established sex-specific marker for abdominal fat and adiposity, and a predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, such as T2D.
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