ArticlePloS one2012
Human BAT possesses molecular signatures that resemble beige/brite cells.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 342 papers.
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Who cites it
342 citing papers in PubMed, 637 citations in OpenAlex.
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- The Physiological Significance of TRP and Piezo Channels as Physical Stimulus Sensors in Brown Adipocytes.Cells · 2026Review
- Ablation ofScience (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Thermogenesis is limited by cellular competence.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Article
- Hormones, heat, and health: a comprehensive review of sex-based differences in brown and beige fat biology.Biology of sex differences · 2025Review
- Epicardial Adipocytes in Cardiac Pathology and Healing.Cardiovascular drugs and therapy · 2025Review
- An Unexpected Journey Into Brown Fat Research for Metabolic Health: The 2025 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award Lecture.Diabetes · 2025Article
- Brown adipocytes from pluripotent stem cells: a promising therapy for obesity.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Interventions in Diabetes Mellitus: Effects on Epicardial Adipose Tissue.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Semaglutide Modulates Proinflammatory Epicardial Adipogenesis With Paracrine Effects on hiPSC-Atrial Cardiomyocytes.JACC. Basic to translational science · 2025Article
- Characterization and lineage tracing of a mouse adipose depot reveal properties conserved with human supraclavicular brown adipose tissue.Stem cell reports · 2025Article
- Preadipocyte IL-13/IL-13Rα1 signaling regulates beige adipogenesis through modulation of PPARγ activity.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Article
- Brd9 antagonism induces beige adipocytes in white adipose tissues and protects against diet-induced obesity.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2025Article
- Brown fat thermogenesis and cold adaptation in humans.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2025Review
282 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates chemical energy and generates heat to protect animals from cold and obesity. Rodents possess two types of UCP-1 positive brown adipocytes arising from distinct developmental lineages: "classical" brown adipocytes develop during the prenatal stage whereas "beige" or "brite" cells that reside in white adipose tissue (WAT) develop during the postnatal stage in response to chronic cold or PPARγ agonists. Beige cells' inducible characteristics make them a promising therapeutic target for obesity treatment, however, the relevance of this cell type in humans remains unknown. In the present study, we determined the gene signatures that were unique to classical brown adipocytes and to beige cells induced by a specific PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone in mice. Subsequently we applied the transcriptional data to humans and examined the molecular signatures of human BAT isolated from multiple adipose depots. To our surprise, nearly all the human BAT abundantly expressed beige cell-selective genes, but the expression of classical brown fat-selective genes were nearly undetectable. Interestingly, expression of known brown fat-selective genes such as PRDM16 was strongly correlated with that of the newly identified beige cell-selective genes, but not with that of classical brown fat-selective genes. Furthermore, histological analyses showed that a new beige cell marker, CITED1, was selectively expressed in the UCP1-positive beige cells as well as in human BAT. These data indicate that human BAT may be primary composed of beige/brite cells.
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