Researchers saw that programmed death ligand 1 on dendritic cells could control adaptive immune responses within adipose tissues to limit diet-induced obesity.
Programmed death ligand 1 is being said to be helpful to control obesity.
Scientists may have found an added benefit to the programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein beyond cancer immunotherapies after research demonstrated its ability to protect against obesity.
In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers saw that PD-L1 on dendritic cells could control adaptive immune responses within adipose tissues to limit diet-induced obesity. When scientists from the Trinity College Dublin and University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) tested their hypothesis on mouse models on a high-fat diet, they saw that PD-L1 deficiency in dendritic cells had contributed to adipose tissue T cell polarization problems and increased obesity. They also saw that PD-L1 may counter inflammation in human adipose.
As a person progresses toward obesity, the immune cells in the fat tissues become inflammatory, but their connection was unclear in the past. The latest findings suggest that PD-L1 loss may boost inflammatory immune activity in fat tissue and that the programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) on the dendritic cells might cause weight gain. PD-L1 expression was also seen to be relative to body mass index measurements.
“A role for PD-L1 in adipose tissue regulation was also shown in humans, with a positive correlation between PD-L1 expression in visceral fat of people with obesity and elevated body weight. Thus, we define a mechanism of adipose tissue homeostasis controlled by the expression of PD-L1 by DCs, which may be a clinically relevant finding with regard to immune-related adverse events during immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy,” said the report.
What did Researcher find in the Study Conducted on Programmed Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1)
The researchers looked into inflammatory changes in obese patients, and whether or not they had type 2 diabetes. Obesity is a major health issue in adults and children, making people more predisposed to having cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
The study on programmed death ligand 1 was led by Prof. Padraic Fallon from Trinity College Dublin’s School of Medicine and Dr. Christian Schwartz from the University Hospital Erlangen. It was funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the National Children’s Research Center and Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research at the University of Erlangen.
“In our study, we analyzed the function of immune checkpoints on specific cells and it is fascinating to see that a small change on one of many cell populations in the fat has such an impact on the outcome of the disease. It will be interesting to investigate now how we can manipulate this checkpoint on specific cell populations of interest to help people with obesity,” Dr. Schwartz commented in a press release.
“Our discovery has broader impacts on addressing how obesity influences co-morbidity with other diseases, as shown in the COVID-19 pandemic, where obese individuals that are infected with SARS-CoV-2 are more likely to develop severe disease that requires intensive care and also have an increased risk of mortality,” added Dr. Fallon.
