Different gene expression profiles in subcutaneous & visceral adipose tissues from Mexican patients with obesity

Abstract

Background & objectives: Obesity is a health problem that requires substantial efforts to understand the physiopathology of its various types and to determine therapeutic strategies for its treatment. The objective of this study was to characterize differences in the global gene expression profiles of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) between control patients (normal weight) and patients with obesity (IMC≥30) using microarrays.

Methods: Employing RNA isolated from SAT and VAT samples obtained from eight control and eight class I, II and III patients with obesity, the gene expression profiles were compared between SAT and VAT using microarrays and the findings were validated via real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Results: A total of 327 and 488 genes were found to be differentially expressed in SAT and VAT, respectively (P≤0.05). Upregulation of PPAP2C, CYP4A11 and CYP17A1 genes was seen in the VAT of obese individuals.

Interpretation & conclusions: SAT and VAT exhibited significant differences in terms of the expression of specific genes. These genes might be related to obesity. These findings may be used to improve the clinical diagnosis of obesity and could be a tool leading to the proposal of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of obesity.

Keywords: Adipose tissue; gene expression; obesity; subcutaneous adipose tissue; visceral adipose tissue.

Fig. 1

Hierarchical cluster analysis of subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue microarrays.

Fig. 2

Volcano plot of subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue microarrays.

Fig. 3

Relative expression levels of selected studied genes in subcutaneous adipose tissue from obese individuals (n=37) and normal weight individuals (n=35). The data are expressed as fold changes relative to the control group or normal weight individuals (dashed line), taken as 100 per cent or 1.0. Differences between groups were assessed using ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc analysis, ^*P<0.05 vs. MVD gene expression and ^†P<0.05 vs. ADPN and MVD gene expressions.

Fig. 4

Relative expression levels of selected studied genes in visceral adipose tissue from patients with obesity (n=37) and normal weight individuals (n=35). The data are expressed as fold changes relative to the control group or normal weight individuals (dashed line), taken as 100 per cent or 1.0, respectively. Differences between groups were assessed using ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc analysis.^*P<0.05 vs. ADPN, PPARG, ACSL3, IDH2, GPAM, PNPLA3 and CYP1B1 gene expressions,^†P<0.05 vs. ADPN, PPARG, ACSL3, SUCGL, IDH2, GPAM, PPAP2C, PNPLA3 and CYP1B1 gene expressions and ^δP<0.05 vs. ADPN, PPARG, ACSL3, SUCGL, IDH2, GPAM, PPAP2C, PNPLA3, CYP1B1 and CYP4A11 gene expressions.