Abstract
Apart from a well-known role in the innate immune system, lipocalin 2 (Lcn2) has been recently characterized as a critical regulator of thermogenesis and lipid metabolism. However, the physiological mechanism through which Lcn2 regulates cellular metabolism and thermogenesis in adipocytes remains unknown. We found that Lcn2 expression and secretion are significantly upreg-ulated by arachidonic acid (AA) and mTORC1 inhibition in differentiated inguinal adipocytes. AA-induced Lcn2 expression and secretion correlate with the inflammatory NFkB activation. Lcn2 deficiency leads to the upregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) expression, as well as increased bio-synthesis and secretion of prostaglandins (PGs), particularly PGE2 and PGD2, induced by AA in adipocytes. Furthermore, Lcn2 deficiency affects the mTOR signaling regulation of thermogenic gene expression, lipogenesis, and lipolysis. The loss of Lcn2 dismisses the effect of mTORC1 inhibition by rapamycin on COX2, thermogenesis genes, lipogenesis, and lipolysis, but has no impact on p70 S6Kinase-ULK1 activation in Lcn2-deficient adipocytes. We conclude that Lcn2 converges the COX2-PGE2 and mTOR signaling pathways in the regulation of thermogenesis and lipid metabolism in adipocytes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 1535 |
Journal | Cells |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding: This work was supported by an NIDDK Grant (R01 DK123042) awarded to X.C.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- adipocyte
- lipocalin 2
- mTOR signaling
- prostaglandin