Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Canadian society is experiencing an epidemic of obesity, brought on by diets with a surplus of calorie dense foods and inactivity. Obesity can cause insulin resistance which overtime leads to type 2 diabetes. At the cellular front line of the fight against these disorders are macrophages. These specialized immune cells play a critical role in regulating our immune system by sensing foreign invaders and mounting an attack. Recent evidence has shown that during obesity, the macrophages that are meant to protect us have been reprogrammed and can contribute to a state of "chronic inflammation", which then leads to insulin resistance. Exciting new findings from our lab have shown that mice lacking a protein called AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) specifically in their macrophages, have increased inflammation and insulin resistance. AMPK is a master regulator of metabolism and can turn on fat burning and increase energy in the cell by making more mitochondria (the power house of the cell). The objective of this study was to determine the specific mechanisms by which AMPK regulates this inflammatory switch in macrophages during obesity. We determined that intermediates of fat metabolism, which can be regulated by AMPK, are the critical components that switch the macrophages to an inflammatory state and lead to insulin resistance. These results may shed light on the connection between obesity, inflammation and metabolism and help to identify new ways to prevent type 2 diabetes.