Lymphocytes upregulate CD36 in adipose tissue and liver

• Main Authors: Jacob Couturier, Alli M. Nuotio-Antar, Neeti Agarwal, Gregory K. Wilkerson, Pradip Saha, Viraj Kulkarni, Samir K. Lakhashe, Juan Esquivel, Pramod N. Nehete, Ruth M. Ruprecht, K. Jagannadha Sastry, Jennifer M. Meyer, Lori R. Hill, Jordan E. Lake, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dorothy E. Lewis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019-01-01
• Series: Adipocyte
• Subjects: adipose tissue; cd36; metabolism; obesity; t cells
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21623945.2019.1609202

CD36 is a multifunctional scavenger receptor and lipid transporter implicated in metabolic and inflammatory pathologies, as well as cancer progression. CD36 is known to be expressed by adipocytes and monocytes/macrophages, but its expression by T cells is not clearly established. We found that CD4 and CD8 T cells in adipose tissue and liver of humans, monkeys, and mice upregulated CD36 expression (ranging from ~5–40% CD36+), whereas little to no CD36 was expressed by T cells in blood, spleen, and lymph nodes. CD36 was expressed predominantly by resting CD38-, HLA.DR-, and PD-1- adipose tissue T cells in monkeys, and increased during high-fat feeding in mice. Adipose tissue and liver promote a distinct phenotype in resident T cells characterized by CD36 upregulation.