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Abstract
Obesity is connected with numerous diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, cancer, and nervous system dysfunctions. Obesity is affected by genetic, environmental, and cultural factors. However, numerous studies indicate that several pathogens might cause obesity. This review discusses recent data and the characteristics of pathogens that are implicated in obesity. In particular, human adenovirus 36 (Ad36) is the most clearly implicated virus in human obesity. It was recently shown that obese groups from the USA, Korea, and Italy have a higher prevalence of serum antibodies against Ad36. The mechanisms of Ad36-induced obesity remain unclear. However, glucose uptake and inflammation are possible mechanisms of Ad36-induced obesity. Overall, this new understanding of causes of obesity has developed into the concept of ‘infectobesity’ and the possibility of developing a ‘vaccine’ or ‘therapeutic agents’ for obesity.
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Figure 1.
Increasing ratios of obese population are appeared all over the world as Europe, Asia, and USA. (A) Global obesity percentage. Obesity prevalence in the USA (B) and Korea (C). (1, 2)
Figure 2.
Effects of gut microbiota (25). Infection with gut microbiota increases body weight and free fatty acid in serum. It induces insulin resistance and reduces hepatic VLDL secretion. Therefore gut microbiota effects fatty liver production.
Figure 3.
Structure of human adenovirus 36 (38). Human adenovirus 36 is nonenveloped isosahedral structure and medium size (90~100 nm). Purified virion fraction is symmetry (rotational axes) and the architecture of the hexon-penton-relation becomes apparent.
Figure 4.
The structure of Ad36 (49). The genome length of Ad36 is 35,152 bp with the GC content at 57.2%. The organization of the 39 open reading frames (ORFs) was similar to that of other adenoviruses.
Figure 5.
Inflammation state in obesity (63). When adipocytes undergo hypertrophy, releasing chemokines that induce recruitment M1-polarized macrophages increased MCP-1 and IL-6.
Table 1.
Pathogens correlated with obesity (Reference 6~11)
Table 2.
Subgroups of human adenoviruses (Reference 39)
Table 3.
Homology of amino acid sequences with Ad36 (Reference 49)
| Ad8 | Ad9 | Ad19 | Ad22 | Ad28 | Ad37 | Ad49 | Ad53 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentonbase | 91.4 | 92.1 | 93.3 | 92.3 | 92.3 | 90.6 | 91.7 | 90.6 |
| Hexon | 91 | 90.5 | 90.1 | 91 | 90.5 | 90.7 | 91.8 | 91 |
| CR1β | 46.5 | 48.6 | 48.3 | 46 | 51 | 45.8 | 85 | 47.1 |
| CR1γ | 69.9 | 64.3 | 87 | 69 | 61 | 70.1 | 66.9 | 69.6 |
| Fiber | 69 | 64.3 | 62.4 | 68.7 | 65 | 62.4 | 66 | 63.5 |
| ORF4 | 90.8 | 91.7 | 89.2 | 91 | 83.5 | 90 | 91.7 | 91.7 |
| ORF3 | 88.9 | 88 | 88 | 86 | 87.2 | 88 | 88 | 88.9 |
| ORF2 | 86.2 | 86.9 | 86.9 | 86 | 93.8 | 86.9 | 87.7 | 86.2 |
| ORF1 | 84 | 92 | 47.2a | 91.2 | 91.2 | 47.2a | 91.2 | 84.8 |
Table 4.
Prevalence of Ad36 in human populations
| Children (%) | Obese | Overweight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Korean cohort 1 (57) | 30a (25/84) | ||
| Korean cohort 2 (56) | 29 (74/259) | ||
| US cohort 1 (54) | 22 (15/67) | ||
| Adults (%) | |||
| Korean cohort 3 (in press IJO) | 30 (54/180) | 40 (72/180) | |
| US cohort 2 (43) | 30 (108/252) | ||
| US cohort 3 (51) | 34 (68/104) | ||
| Europe cohort 1 (55) | 65 (51/150) | ||
| Europe cohort 2 (50) | 6 (28/509) |
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