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Mimecan, a Hormone Abundantly Expressed in Adipose Tissue, Reduced Food Intake Independently of Leptin Signaling
Huang-Ming Cao1, Xiao-Ping Ye2, Jun-Hua Ma1
1State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Molecular Medicine Center, Shanghai Institute of Endocrinology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China.
Abstract:
Adipokines such as leptin play important roles in the regulation of energy metabolism, particularly in the control of appetite. Here, we describe a hormone, mimecan, which is abundantly expressed in adipose tissue. Mimecan was observed to inhibit food intake and reduce body weight in mice. Intraperitoneal injection of a mimecan-maltose binding protein (-MBP) complex inhibited food intake in C57BL/6J mice, which was attenuated by pretreatment with polyclonal antibody against mimecan. Notably, mimecan-MBP also induced anorexia in A(y)/a and db/db mice. Furthermore, the expression of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 was up-regulated in the hypothalamus by mimecan-MBP, as well as in N9 microglia cells by recombinant mouse mimecan. Taken together, the results suggest that mimecan is a satiety hormone in adipose tissue, and that mimecan inhibits food intake independently of leptin signaling by inducing IL-1β and IL-6 expression in the hypothalamus.
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