Effects of sera from obesity and normal skinny people on MSCs biology
Co-Investigator: Prof. Di Bernardo Giovanni, Dr. Di Maio Girolamo
Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in the adipose tissue, resulting in a high risk to health.
On the other hand, visceral obesity is defined by the presence of excess adipose tissue in the abdominal cavity, and is an independent risk factor for several diseases. A common way to measure individuals' obesity is the body mass index (BMI). The metric formula, a person's weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in metres) is used to calculate BMI.
Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronicdiseases, including dyslipidemia, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. These conditions can shorten life span.
Lifestyle modification, consisting of a reduction in energy intake, an increase in energy consumption, and behavioural strategies to support these transformations, is the keystone of weight loss therapy.
Many short-term studies have shown that modest weight loss of approximately 5-10% of initial weight can be associated with improvement or, in some cases, regression of obesity-related disorders.
Cytokines appear to be major regulators of adipose tissue functions.
They can regulate homeostasis, metabolism, and interplay with immune system. In particular, obesity is associated with chronic inflammation. This may affect the functions of several organs and tissues, including the stem cell niches, which are specific tissue regions that house stem cells and control their self-renewal and lineage production by modulating the concentration of signalling molecules, such as hormones, cytokines, and growth factors.
In overweight and obese people, the dysregulated level of circulating signaling factors may also affect the differentiation potential of bone marrow resident MSCs that differentiate into mesenchymal tissues, such as bone, cartilage and fat cells, but also support hematopoiesis and contribute to the homeostatic maintenance of many organs and tissues , altering the equilibrium between adipo- and osteogenesis.
We decided to investigate this phenomenon by analyzing the influence of sera from overweight individuals on in vitro MSC proliferation and differentiation.
OUR Publications:
1: Alessio N, Squillaro T, Monda V, Peluso G, Monda M, Melone MA, Galderisi U, Di Bernardo G. Circulating factors present in the sera of naturally skinny people may influence cell commitment and adipocyte differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells. World J Stem Cells. 2019 Mar 26;11(3):180-195. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v11.i3.180. PubMed PMID: 30949296; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6441938.
2: Ferone A, Messina G, Alessio N, Capasso S, Cipollaro M, Monda M, Peluso G, Galderisi U, Di Bernerdo G. Sera of Overweight Patients Alter Adipogenesis and Osteogenesis of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stromal Cells, a Phenomenon that also Persists in Weight Loss Individuals. 2016 Jul; Jurnal of Stem Cell Research & Therapy
3: Messina G, Di Bernardo G, Viggiano A, De Luca V, Monda V, Messina A, Chieffi S, Galderisi U, Monda M. Exercise increases the level of plasma orexin A in humans. J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol. 2016 Nov 1;27(6):611-616. doi: 10.1515/jbcpp-2015-0133. PubMed PMID: 27665420.
4: Di Bernardo G, Messina G, Capasso S, Del Gaudio S, Cipollaro M, Peluso G, Casale F, Monda M, Galderisi U. Sera of overweight people promote in vitro adipocyte differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2014 Jan 9;5(1):4. doi: 10.1186/scrt393. PubMed PMID: 24405848; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4055107.