What Can 'Brown-ing' Do For You?

Abstract

Human stem cell-based models of thermogenic adipocytes provide an opportunity for the establishment of new therapeutics, modeling of disease mechanisms, and understanding of development. Pluripotent stem cells, adipose-derived stem cells/preadipocytes, and programming-reprogramming-based approaches have been used to develop cell-based platforms for drug screening and transplantable therapeutics in the metabolic disease arena. Here we provide a detailed overview of these approaches, the latest advances in this field, and the opportunities and shortcomings they present. Moreover, we comment on how stem-cell-based platforms can be best utilized in the future for the treatment and understanding of metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and associated medical issues such as obesity.

Keywords: adipose-derived stem cells; beige fat; brown fat; mesenchymal stem cells; metabolic disease; pluripotent stem cells.

Figure 1. Human stem cells models of thermogenic adipocytes and their potential applications

Cell-based models of thermogenic adipocytes can be generated from directed differentiation of stem cells, such as human pluripotent stem cells or adipose-derived stem/stromal cells. These thermogenic adipocytes are anticipated to be of important utility for disease modeling, cell therapies and drug screening applications.