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AGEING

Young eosinophils rejuvenate ageing adipose tissues

Nature Metabolism volume 2, pages 655–656 (2020)Cite this article

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The adipose tissue harbours multiple immune-cell types whose populations are known to be altered in disease conditions. A new study by Brigger et al. shows that restocking fat tissues of old mice with eosinophils prevents age-related declines in physical and immunological functions.

In this issue of Nature Metabolism, Brigger et al. sought to identify circulating blood factors involved in the ageing process4. A screen of 170 proteins in serum samples from humans and mice in different age groups led to the identification of CCL11 and CCL2—two chemokines that attract eosinophils and monocytes/macrophages, respectively—as the top-ranked factors associated with old age, in agreement with findings from a previous report5. Because these two chemokines are mainly expressed by white adipose tissues, the authors examined the populations of eosinophils and macrophages in visceral fats (or epidydimal fats in male mice) and found a decrease in the frequency of eosinophils and an increase in macrophages in aged adipose tissues. The gene expression of several proinflammatory mediators, including IL-6, IL-1β and TNFα, in addition to CCL11 and CCL2, was also elevated, thus suggesting that ageing promotes a low-grade inflammation in adipose tissue similar to that in obesity.

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Fig. 1: Adipose tissue eosinophils maintain physiological functions in ageing and obesity.

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  1. Department of Molecular Metabolism, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Chih-Hao Lee

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  1. Chih-Hao Lee
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Correspondence to Chih-Hao Lee.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Lee, CH. Young eosinophils rejuvenate ageing adipose tissues. Nat Metab 2, 655–656 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-020-0230-9

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