Lan Yao, Kuan Yan, Yang Xiao, Aimin Xu, Zhiguang Zhou and Shiping Liu
Aim: Chronic inflammation of
adipose tissues
plays a key role in obesity-induced metabolic disorders. We examined effects of sera from obese patients with or without different compositions of metabolic disorders on the activation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway in the human monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1), which have never been reported. Methods: With or without pretreatment of TLR4 monoclonal antibody, THP-1 cells were incubated for 48h by sera from 45 obese patients with or without metabolic disorders and 15 controls. The level of TLR4 in THP-1 cells, intracellular level of phosphorylated NF-κB p65, IL-1β and TNF-α levels in cell culture supernatants were measured. Results: Compared with controls, the expression level of TLR4, NF-κB p65, IL-1β and TNF-α were significantly increased (p <0.05) after cells were incubated with sera from obese patients. The more compositions of
metabolic disorders
, the higher increase of these factors. Pretreatment with TLR4 monoclonal antibody suppressed the degree of increase in these factors (p <0.05). Conclusions: Sera from
obese patient
s could induce the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway in THP-1 monocytes by different degrees. The TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway plays an important role in the proinflammatory effect of obese patient-derived sera.