Cloning of New Adipocytokine and elucidation of its pathophysiological role

脂肪组织产生各种分泌的蛋白质(脂肪细胞因子)，在新陈代谢中发挥重要作用。我们分离出一种新发现的脂肪细胞因子内脂素，它在人类和小鼠的内脏脂肪中高度丰富，其在血浆中的表达水平在肥胖发展过程中增加。Visfatin对应于一种以前被确认为前B细胞集落增强因子(PBEF)的蛋白质，它是一种在淋巴细胞中表达的52千道尔顿的细胞因子。Visfatin在培养细胞中发挥类似胰岛素的作用，并降低小鼠的血糖水平。与野生型小鼠相比，内脂素基因定向突变杂合子小鼠的血糖水平略高。Visfatin结合并激活胰岛素受体。我们分离出一种新的脂肪细胞因子：Visfatin，Visfatin是治疗糖尿病等代谢性疾病的新靶点。

Fat tissue produces a variety of secreted proteins (adipocytokines) with important roles in metabolism. We isolated a newly identified adipocytokine, visfatin, that is highly enriched in the visceral fat of both humans and mice and whose expression level in plasma increases during the development of obesity. Visfatin corresponds to a protein identified previously as pre-B cell colony-enhancing factor(PBEF), a 52-kilodalton cytokine expressed in lymphocytes. Visfatin exerted insulin-mimetic effects in cultured cells and lowered plasma glucose levels in mice. Mice heterozygous for a targeted mutation in the visfatin gene had modestly higher levels of plasma glucose relative to wild-type littermates. Visfatin binds to and activates the insulin receptor. We isolated a new adipocytokine ; Visfatin, and visfatin is a new therapeutic target of metabolic disorders such as diabetes.