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Nature Medicine 7, 887 - 888 (2001)
doi:10.1038/90911

You are what you secrete

Alan R. Saltiel1

  1. Life Sciences Institute, Department of Medicine University of Michigan School of Medicine Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
    e-mail: saltiel@umich.edu


Obesity and insulin resistance enjoy a complex relationship that gives rise to a range of metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and coagulation disorders. Teasing apart this relationship could yield new therapies to treat some of these conditions and two new reports point to the adipocyte-secreted protein, adiponectin, as a new molecular target. (pages 941–946 and pages 947–953)


Our notion of the adipocyte as merely a cargo space for fat has undergone a dramatic change1. These unexciting cells were once considered to be inert depots for storing fuel as lipid, to be released only during times of hardship such as fasting or starvation.