[Adipose tissue: immune function and alterations caused by obesity]

The adipose tissue, which is currently viewed as an organ with neuroimmunoendocrine functions, participates in the homeostasis of the human organism. It has great plasticity and functional variability based on the intake of nutrients or to the increase or decrease of its tissue volume, which modifies both the function and the number of the cells that form it or reach it. The elements that are released abnormally by these cells, among other cytokines and adipokines, cause both local and systemic inflammation, mainly when they come from the visceral adipose tissue, and they can affect diverse organs like the liver and the cardio-vascular system. It has been pointed out that obesity entails a greater risk for developing inflammatory, metabolic, autoimmune, or allergic diseases, as well as alterations in scarring, and cancer.