A review article summarizing the role of chemerin in regulating metabolic disorders
Metabolic syndrome is a global public health problem and predisposes individuals to
obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Although the underlying mechanisms
remain to be elucidated, accumulating evidence has uncovered a critical role of
adipokines. Chemerin, encoded by the gene Rarres2, is a newly discovered adipokine
involved in inflammation, adipogenesis, angiogenesis and energy metabolism. In
humans, local and circulating levels of chemerin are positively correlated with BMI
and obesity-related biomarkers. In this review, we discuss both peripheral and central
roles of chemerin in regulating body metabolism. In general, chemerin is upregulated
in obese and diabetic animals. Previous studies by gain or loss of function show an
association of chemerin with adipogenesis, glucose homeostasis, food intake and
body weight. In the brain, the hypothalamus integrates peripheral afferent signals
including adipokines to regulate appetite and energy homeostasis. Chemerin increases
food intake in seasonal animals by acting on hypothalamic stem cells, the tanycytes. In
peripheral tissues, chemerin increases cell expansion, inflammation and angiogenesis
in adipose tissue, collectively resulting in adiposity. While chemerin signalling enhances
insulin secretion from pancreatic islets, contradictory results have been reported on
how chemerin links to obesity and insulin resistance. Given the association of chemerin
with obesity comorbidities in humans, advances in translational research targeting
chemerin are expected to mitigate metabolic disorders. Together, the exciting findings
gathered in the last decade clearly indicate a crucial multifaceted role for chemerin in
the regulation of energy balance, making it a promising candidate for urgently needed
pharmacological treatment strategies for obesity.
This review article was published online in Journal of Endocrinology on May 30, 2018. (https://joe.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/joe/238/2/JOE-18-0174.xml). The article is titled Chemerin: a multifaceted adipokine involved in metabolic disorders. This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Pilot Project A and the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology.