Adiponectin and macrophage

Adipose tissue secretes various bioactive soluble mediator called adipokines. In excess adipose tissue, increase of total amount of proinflammatory adipokines, such as TNF-α and IL-6 are observed, indicating that obesity is associated with a state of low-grade, chronic inflammation. Adiponectin, however, mature adipocyte-derived peptide, shows negative correlation with body mass index and decreases its plasma level in obese. As clinical feature, hypoadiponectinaemia is closely related with onset of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and type II diabetes. Administration of adiponectin improves insulin resistance and/or inflammatory condition in vivo. Thus, adiponectin possessing anti-inflammatory and anti-metabolic dysfunctional characterization is expected to be used for treatment and/or preventative agent. In this review, we summarized the role of adiponectin on metabolic and immune function, in particular function of macrophage.