CTRP6 rapidly responds to acute nutritional changes, regulating adipose tissue expansion and inflammation in mice

In chronic obesity, activated adipose tissue proinflammatory cascades are tightly linked to metabolic dysfunction. Yet, close temporal analyses of the responses to obesogenic environment such as high-fat feeding (HFF) in susceptible mouse strains question the causal relationship between inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, and/or raises the possibility that certain inflammatory cascades play adaptive/homeostatic, rather than pathogenic roles. Here, we hypothesized that CTRP6, a C1QTNF family member, may constitute an early responder to acute nutritional changes in adipose tissue, with potential physiological roles. Both 3-days high-fat feeding (3dHFF) and acute obesity reversal [2-wk switch to low-fat diet after 8-wk HFF (8wHFF)] already induced marked changes in whole body fuel utilization. Although adipose tissue expression of classical proinflammatory cytokines (Tnf-alpha, Ccl2, and ll1b) exhibited no, or only minor, change, C1qtnf6 uniquely increased, and decreased, in response to 3dHFF and acute obesity reversal, respectively. CTRP6 knockout (KO) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) exhibited increased adipogenic gene expression (Pparg, Fabp4, and Adipoq) and markedly reduced inflammatory genes (Tnf-alpha, Ccl2, and ll6) compared with wild-type MEFs, and recombinant CTRP6 induced the opposite gene expression signature, as assessed by RNA sequencing. Consistently, 3dHFF of CTRP6-KO mice induced a greater whole body and adipose tissue weight gain compared with wild-type littermates. Collectively, we propose CTRP6 as a gene that rapidly responds to acute changes in caloric intake, acting in acute overnutrition to induce a "physiological inflammatory response" that limits adipose tissue expansion. NEW & NOTEWORTHY CTRP6 (C1qTNF6), a member of adiponectin gene family, regulates inflammation and metabolism in established obesity. Here, short-term high-fat feeding in mice is shown to increase adipose tissue expression of CTRP6 before changes in the expression of classical inflammatory genes occur. Conversely, CTRP6 expression in adipose tissue decreases early in the course of obesity reversal. Gain- and loss-of-function models suggest CTRP6 as a positive regulator of inflammatory cascades, and a negative regulator of adipogenesis and adipose tissue expansion.