The role of perilipin in human obesity and insulin resistance

Purpose of review More than 1.1 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese. We know that obesity is determined by a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Although hundreds of obesity candidate genes have been identified through different metabolic pathways, the fundamental basis of obesity resides with excessive storage of triacylglycericles in adipose tissue. Recent findings The mechanisms that control the storage and release of triacylglycerides in lipid droplets are complex and poorly understood; yet, they are likely to be crucial to the understanding of the regulation of body weight. In this regard, the family of perilipin, adipophilin and TIP47 proteins may play key roles in obesity. It has recently been shown that variants at the perilipin locus were associated with BMI and obesity risk in females from several population studies. Moreover, the reported interactions between perilipin and dietary factors may shed light on the complex relation between dietary intake and body weight changes observed on an individual basis. Summary These findings support an important role for PLIN as a candidate gene for obesity risk in humans as well as a modulator of dietary response to therapies aimed to reduce body weight and decrease metabolic syndrome risk.