Dept of Nephrology, University Federico II of Naples, Italy, Napoli, Italy.

Background. Only few studies have been addressed to the presence and regulation of C-reactive protein (CRP) gene expression in different districts of adipose tissue and no study has investigated the role of adipose tissue in presence of inflammation. Objective. Aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the inflammatory involvement of either adipose tissue or adipose cells (adipocytes and stromal cells, respectively) in patients with chronic inflammatory disease, focusing on regional adipose tissue CRP gene expression. Methods. Eighteen patients with inflammatory disease and fourteen healthy controls were enrolled. All subjects underwent specific surgical procedures. Inflamed and non inflamed patients provided samples of subcutaneous and/or omental adipose tissue. All samples were analyzed by RealTime-PCR for specific gene expression. In addition both adipocytes and stromal cells were studied by RealTime-PCR and immunoprecipitation in order to evaluate either gene or protein expression of CRP. Results. Our results (RealTime-PCR) demonstrated a higher gene expression of CRP, IL-6 and both IL-6 membrane receptors in subcutaneous samples of inflamed patients than in healthy controls. Furthermore, in omental fragments of inflamed patients an enhanced mRNA abundance of the same genes, as compared with subcutaneous, was observed. The results obtained at cellular level did not evidence any difference between adipocytes and stromal cells CRP gene expression while immunoprecipitation demonstrated the presence of CRP in inflamed subjects. Conclusions. These results provide first time evidence of the involvement of adipose tissue in course of chronic inflammatory diseases, with a different degree of participation of the different adipose tissue districts. Key words: adipose tissue, C-reactive protein, interleukin 6, inflammation, IL-6 receptors.

PMID: 17652155 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]