Human s.c adipose tissue gene expression during diet-induced weight loss

Obesity has considerable effects on morbidity and mortality and the prevalence of obesity has been increasing rapidly worldwide during the past two decades. Even if obesity affects the entire individual, adipose tissue play a central role in the development of obesity. Expression profiling of adipose tissue may give insights into mechanisms contributing to obesity and obesity-related disorders. 24 obese subjects (6 women and 18 men, BMI 37.6 ± 4.9) received a very low calorie diet (450 kcal/d, Cambridge diet or Modifast) for 16 weeks. On average, patients lost 27.7 kg during the diet. Microarray expression analysis (Affymetrix U133A) in subcutaneous adipose tissue was performed before diet and after 16 weeks of diet.