Authors: Lee, Paul; Campbell, Lesley V.

Source: Current Pharmaceutical Design, Volume 15, Number 23, August 2009 , pp. 2751-2758(8)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

The aetiology of obesity is multi-factorial. Recent research has identified a novel association between endotoxaemia (circulating lipopolysaccharide in the systemic circulation) and low-grade inflammation in the adipose organ, which may contribute to obesity. The mechanisms for the low-grade elevation of circulating lipopolysaccharide in obesity are poorly understood.

Vitamin D has been increasingly recognised for its pleiotropic actions beyond maintenance of musculoskeletal health. The parathyroid-vitamin D axis is altered in obesity. Circulating vitamin D levels are lower in obese individuals. The regulatory role of vitamin D in the immune system and colonic mucosa may explain the under-appreciated contribution of vitamin D deficiency in the obese to the pathogenesis of endotoxaemia and adipose inflammation.

We propose a hypothetical model linking metabolic endotoxaemia with vitamin D deficiency in obesity. A therapeutic approach involving the use of probiotics and vitamin D metabolites in the obese is described.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138161209788923895

Affiliations: 1: Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia.

Publication date: 2009-08-01

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• Current Pharmaceutical Design publishes timely in-depth reviews covering all aspects of current research in rational drug design. Each issue is devoted to a single major therapeutic area. A Guest Editor who is an acknowledged authority in a therapeutic field has solicits for each issue comprehensive and timely reviews from leading researchers in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.
  
  Each thematic issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design covers all subject areas of major importance to modern drug design, including: medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, drug targets and disease mechanism.

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