Signaling insulin resistance in obesity

Researchers at Monash University have made a case for PEDF as a missing link between obesity and insulin resistance that leads to diabetes.¹ However, the adipose-secreted cytokine has many biological roles, which could make it difficult for scientists to develop an inhibitor that only alters PEDF's insulin-resistance effects in obesity.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of obesity in U.S. adults diagnosed with diabetes was 85.2% in 1999-2002.² Finding a mechanistic link between the two conditions could lead to ways to prevent diabetes in the obese population...