High-fat diet induces systemic B-cell repertoire changes associated with insulin resistance

The development of obesity-associated insulin resistance is associated with B-lymphocyte accumulation in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and is prevented by B-cell ablation. To characterize potentially pathogenic B-cell repertoires in this disorder, we performed high-throughput immunoglobulin (Ig) sequencing from multiple tissues of mice fed high-fat diet (HFD) and regular diet (RD). HFD significantly changed the biochemical properties of Ig heavy-chain complementarity-determining region-3 (CDRH3) sequences, selecting for IgA antibodies with shorter and more hydrophobic CDRH3 in multiple tissues. A set of convergent antibodies of highly similar sequences found in the VAT of HFD mice but not RD mice showed significant somatic mutation, suggesting a response shared between mice to a common antigen or antigens. These findings indicate that a simple high-fat dietary intervention has a major impact on mouse B-cell repertoires, particularly in adipose tissues.