Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Tracing human brown fat

Nature Medicine volume 21, pages 667–668 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Adipocyte progenitors have the capacity to differentiate into mature brown adipocytes with thermogenic capabilities. Two new studies identify novel markers to help prospectively isolate these and mature adipocytes from human brown fat biopsies.

In rodents, the contribution of BAT to whole-body metabolism and its therapeutic potential to combat obesity and metabolic disease have been irrefutably demonstrated. However, these data cannot be directly translated to humans. The amount of BAT is several orders of magnitude higher in rodents compared to humans. Thus, whether BAT is truly a potent pharmacological target to combat obesity and related disorders in humans depends on at least the following requirements. First, human BAT should be recruitable. Second, pharmacological interventions should be specific to BAT. Third, the contribution of human BAT to the enhancement of energy expenditure should be physiologically significant. Novel insight into these requirements has been offered by the studies of Shinoda et al.6 and Xue et al.7, both recently published in Nature Medicine.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Translating adipose marker genes: Brown adipocytes have the ability to combust glucose and lipids to produce heat via UCP1 in the mitochondria.

Marina Corral Spence/Nature Publishing Group

References

  1. van Marken Lichtenbelt, W.D. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 1500–1508 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Cypess, A.M. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 1509–1517 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Saito, M. et al. Diabetes 58, 1526–1531 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Virtanen, K.A. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 1518–1525 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ouellet, V. et al. J. Clin. Invest. 122, 545–552 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Shinoda, K. et al. Nat. Med. 21, 389–394 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Xue R., et al. Nat Med. 21, 760–768 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Cypess, A.M. et al. Cell Metab. 21, 33–38 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. van der Lans, A.A. et al. J. Clin. Invest. 123, 3395–3403 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Vijgen, G.H. et al. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 97, E1229–E1233 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wu, J. et al. Cell 150, 366–376 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cypess, A.M. et al. Nat. Med. 19, 635–639 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emmani B.M. Nascimento and Wouter D. van Marken Lichtenbelt are in the Department of Human Biology and Movement Sciences, Mariëtte R. Boon, NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,

    Mariëtte R Boon, Emmani B M Nascimento & Wouter D van Marken Lichtenbelt

Authors
  1. Mariëtte R Boon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Emmani B M Nascimento
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wouter D van Marken Lichtenbelt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wouter D van Marken Lichtenbelt.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Boon, M., Nascimento, E. & van Marken Lichtenbelt, W. Tracing human brown fat. Nat Med 21, 667–668 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3900

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3900

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing