Obesity is a risk factor for the development of secondary complications including dyslipidemia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. An accumulation of lipid in the liver, which is clinically known as hepatic steatosis, is a pathologic abnormality that is common in obese and type 2 diabetes patients. Hepatic steatosis occurs when fatty acid supply outweighs fatty acid demand and occurs in a time-course that usually precedes the induction insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
This presentation describes how ‘omics’ approaches have been used to delineate the hepatocyte protein and lipid secretome in health and obesity, and unravelled unappreciated biology. Further, we report on the pre-clinical validation of several liver secreted factors that either cause insulin resistance and disturbances in systemic metabolic homeostasis or enhance glycemic control in diabetes.