Molecular mechanism of the insulin sensitizing adipokine vaspin

Introduction: Obesity represents a fast growing health problem that is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of premature death. Obesity significantly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and several types of cancer. Vaspin (visceral adipose tissue-derived serpin) was identified as an adipokine with insulin-sensitizing effects, which is predominantly secreted from visceral adipose tissue in a rat model of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We recently reported that elevated vaspin serum concentrations are associate…