Placental growth factor (PlGF) is linked to inflammation and metabolic disorders in mice with diet-induced obesity

Placental growth factor (PlGF), a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) sub-family, plays a major role in angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. Previous study demonstrated that PlGF-overexpressing transgenic (Tg) mice had gestational loss. In addition, PlGF secretion was up-regulated in isolated T lymphocytes (T-cell) upon CD3/CD28 stimulation, suggesting that PlGF could be a regulator of T-cell differentiation and development. T-cells are well known to play a critical role in obesity-induced inflammation. Therefore, to verify the possible link of diet-induced obesity (DIO) with inflammation and related metabolic disorders, such as insulin resistance, we fed high-fat diet (HFD) to Tg mice for 16 weeks. Adiposity and glucose intolerance significantly increase in Tg mice fed a HFD (Tg HFD) compared to wild-type (WT) mice fed HFD (WT HFD). In addition, macrophage infiltrations were significantly higher in the epididymal white adipose tissue (EWAT), liver, and pancreatic islets of Tg HFD mice compared to WT HFD mice. In the in vitro study, we showed that isolated CD4⁺ T-cells from Tg mice further differentiate into type 1 (Th1) and type 17 (Th17) helper T-cells via CD3/CD28 stimulation. Furthermore, we observed that the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-17, and TNFα, are remarkably increased in Tg mice compared to WT mice. These findings demonstrate that PlGF overexpression in T-cells might lead to inflammatory T-cell differentiation and accumulation in adipose tissue (AT) or metabolism-related tissues, contributing to the development of systemic metabolic disorders. Thus, PlGF may provide an effective therapeutic target in the management of obesity-induced inflammation and related metabolic disorders.