Single-cell analysis of human adipose tissue identifies depot and disease specific cell types.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

The complex relationship between metabolic disease risk and body fat distribution in humans involves cellular characteristics which are specific to body fat compartments. Here we show depot-specific differences in the stromal vascual fraction of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue by performing single-cell RNA sequencing of tissue specimen from obese individuals. We characterize multiple immune cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, adipose and hematopoietic stem cell progenitors. Subpopulations of adipose-resident immune cells are metabolically active and associated with metabolic disease status and those include a population of potential dysfunctional CD8+ T cells expressing metallothioneins. We identify multiple types of adipocyte progenitors that are common across depots, including a subtype enriched in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Depot-specific analysis reveals a class of adipocyte progenitors unique to visceral adipose tissue, which shares common features with beige preadipocytes. Our human single-cell transcriptome atlas across fat depots provides a resource to dissect functional genomics of metabolic disease.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.