Metabolic Messengers: tumour necrosis factor

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is a classical, pleiotropic pro-inflammatory cytokine. It is also the first 'adipokine' described to be produced from adipose tissue, regulated in obesity and proposed to contribute to obesity-associated metabolic disease. In this review, we provide an overview of TNF in the context of metabolic inflammation or metaflammation, its discovery as a metabolic messenger, its sites and mechanisms of action and some critical considerations for future research. Although we focus on TNF and the studies that elucidated its immunometabolic actions, we highlight a conceptual framework, generated by these studies, that is equally applicable to the complex network of pro-inflammatory signals, their biological activity and their integration with metabolic regulation, and to the field of immunometabolism more broadly. Tumour necrosis factor is a classical pro-inflammatory cytokine. Sethi and Hotamisligil provide a comprehensive overview of its pleiotropic immunometabolic actions, while presenting a framework that is applicable to the complex network of other pro-inflammatory signals and their relevance to metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Automated summary

This review focuses on tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the context of metabolic inflammation, highlighting its immunometabolic actions and relevance to other pro-inflammatory signals and metabolic diseases. It presents a conceptual framework applicable to the complex network of pro-inflammatory signals and their integration with metabolic regulation.