The adipose tissue not only contains adipocytes, the cells responsible for fat storage but also has the presence of a variety of immune cells. Researchers have also found that Treg cells, increase with age in visceral adipose tissue of an individual with normal weight but not in the subcutaneous. “This finding is important because visceral adipose tissue was directly related to insulin resistance, unlike the subcutaneous”
Researchers have discovered that another type of inflammatory immune cells, macrophages, are inversely related to Treg cells. That is, while the adipose tissue of obese and diabetic individual is full of inflammatory macrophages but almost devoid of Treg cells in the adipose tissue of an individual with normal weight, the opposite occurs. According to Herrero points, “it is possible that the inflammation caused by macrophages produce insulin resistance and as inferred in this work Treg cells kept at bay macrophages in normal adipose tissue thus preventing inflammation.”
This perspective is a key development because immunologists had thought until now that the function of Treg cells was to control the immune response to prevent the fight foreign pathogens could end up damaging the tissue itself. ”A wrong Treg cell function has been linked to diseases as diverse as multiple sclerosis and certain cancers. Now we’re seeing that Treg cells may also be necessary to prevent diabetes,
