Exp Mol Med.
2018 Jan;50(1):e432. 10.1038/emm.2017.245.
Metformin ameliorates experimental-obesity-associated autoimmune arthritis by inducing FGF21 expression and brown adipocyte differentiation
- Affiliations
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- 1The Rheumatism Research Center, Catholic Research Institute of Medical Science, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea. iammila@catholic.ac.kr
- 2Division of Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- 3Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- 4Divison of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- KMID: 2438362
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.1038/emm.2017.245
Abstract
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease involving excessive inflammation. Recently, RA associated with a metabolic disorder was revealed to be non-responsive to RA medications. Metformin has been reported to have a therapeutic effect on RA and obesity. The aim of this investigation was to study the therapeutic effect and the underlying mechanism of metformin's action in an experimental model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) associated with obesity. Metformin was administered daily for 13 weeks to mice with CIA that had been fed a high-fat diet. Metformin ameliorated the development of CIA in obese mice by reducing autoantibody expression and joint inflammation. Furthermore, metformin decreased the expression levels of pSTAT3 and pmTOR and had a small normalizing effect on the metabolic profile of obese CIA mice. In addition, metformin increased the production of pAMPK and FGF21. Metformin also induced the differentiation of brown adipose tissue (BAT), which led to a reciprocal balance between T helper (Th) 17 and regulatory T (Treg) cells in vitro and in vivo. These results suggest that metformin can dampen the development of CIA in obese mice and reduce metabolic dysfunction by inducing BAT differentiation. Thus, metformin could be a therapeutic candidate for non-responsive RA.
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