Exploring new avenues in diabetes research through calorie restriction

Josep A. Villena

Fundació Hospital Universitari Vall d´Hebron - Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain

Type 2 diabetes (T2D), often linked to obesity, is a major global health issue. Despite the availability of several treatment options, many patients fail to achieve optimal glycaemic control, underscoring the need for more effective therapeutic strategies.

Chronic inflammation of adipose tissue (AT) plays a central role in the development of insulin resistance and its progression to T2D. Calorie restriction improves metabolic health in part by reducing AT inflammation, yet the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This project aims to uncover the mechanisms by which calorie restriction alleviates white AT inflammation, the predominant type of body fat, primarily responsible for energy storage, to find new therapeutic targets for the treatment of T2D.

Researchers have identified key regulatory genes that are induced by calorie restriction in AT. These genes appear to regulate the immune response in adipocytes, suggesting they could play a central role in resolving white AT inflammation in individuals with obesity. This project aims to precisely identify the mechanisms that modulate inflammatory responses in adipocytes by using new mouse models with specific gene modifications and co-cultures of adipocytes with immune cells.

By understanding how the genes identified regulate the immune response to resolve white AT inflammation, this research could lead to new therapeutic strategies for T2D.

Uncovering new mechanisms involved in the resolution of adipose tissue meta-inflammation

€499.700,00