New research shows the presence of saturated fats resulted in monocytes, a white blood cell, migrating into the tissues of vital organs. Received wisdom on the health risks of eating saturated fat has been called into question recently. This new research supports the view that excessive consumption of saturated fat can be bad for us.
Scientists from Imperial College London studied mice that have an unusually high level of saturated fat circulating in their blood. The newly arrived monocytes could worsen tissue damage because they may exacerbate ongoing or underlying inflammation, but this aspect is still under study.
“The mice we studied were treated with a drug that caused them to accumulate extremely high levels of fat in their blood. Although it is unusual, humans do sometimes have measurements approaching those levels, either from an inherited condition, or through eating fatty foods.
MOA: As the organs take in fats, most of the migrated monocytes are turned into macrophages and some of the cells located within the tissues take in fat and are turned into ‘foam cells’. These foam cells and macrophages then stimulate production of a signalling molecule, CCL4, which attracts more monocytes into the tissue. This spiral continues as long as the level of saturated fat is elevated. These mechanisms may have evolved to remove fats from the blood in order to maintain a healthy balance; further research is required to confirm this.
Dr Woollard said: “It’s really exciting to see that the monocytes that migrate into tissues are all of one type and that means we actually may be able to develop drugs that change this behaviour” eg in those with cardiovascular disease.
“Interestingly, people with certain immune disorders affecting monocytes, including some inflammatory and autoimmune diseases like lupus, can have unexpectedly high levels of saturated fats in their blood and also are more likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes at a younger age.” The next stages of this research will be to study groups of patients with inflammatory diseases, and to look at the direct effects of saturated foods on monocyte function. http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_3-9-2015-17-8-27
Hypertriglyceridemia promotes the extravasation of Gr1low monocytes •CD68+ tissue macrophages accumulate in the absence of overt inflammation •Hypertriglyceridemia is associated with increased CCL4 levels Credit: http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/S2211-1247(15)00891-8?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124715008918%3Fshowall%3Dtrue •CCL4 is involved in the migration of Gr1low monocytes
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