Editorial [Hot Topic: The Adipobiology of Disease (Guest Editor: George N. Chaldakov)]

A paradigm-shifting discovery of leptin in 1994 attracted researchers' attention on the endocrine and paracrine functions of adipose tissue, although the birth hour of adipoendocrinology could be traced back to the mid 1980s when lipoprotein lipase and adipsin were identified as adipose-derived endocrine products. In expressing their secretory phenotype, adipocytes, tissue matrix cells, stromovascular cells and immune cells associated with adipose tissue produce and release a wealth of moonlighting proteins designated adipokines or adipocytokines. Extensive research in the past decade has identified about hundred adipokines as constituting the adipokinome (secretory proteome). These studies clearly shown that adipokines play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of variety of diseases besides obesity and related disorders. This intellectual growth was conseptualized as a novel field of study dubbed adipobiology of disease (Curr. Pharm. Des., 2003, 9, 1023). Accordingly, lingua adipobiologica has been progressively enriched with terms such as adipokines, adipocytokines, adipokinome, adiponectin, adipoendocrinology, adipopharmacology, adipomics alike. This topic issue is a product of collaborative work of the contributors and Guest Editor, and presents eight reviews on various aspects of adipobiology of disease. Its state-of-the-science format aims at serving as a useful reference and educational tool, as well as to assist the medical community in its efforts on research, prevention and therapy of diseases associated with dysregulated adipose tissue. The present challenge is to cultivate an adipocentric thinking of how we can make adipokines and other adipose-derived molecules work for the benefit of human's health. Perhaps, the field of adipobiology is grown enough for a systems biology approach that may integrate data of immunology, endocrinology and metabolism at the “-omics” level. This may contribute to the development of adipopharmacology because the adipokines' pleiotropic activities put them forward as a multifaceted target of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical agents. The Editor hopes that the data and hypotheses presented here will foster the interaction between scientists and clinicians. And will convey to the reader some of the excitement that enlivens the current progress of adipobiology. We may thus share together the importance of Albert Einstein's statement about the exchange of apples and ideas. Also its in vivo phenotypic expression: the First International Symposium on Adipobiology and Adipopharmacology (ISAA) to be held 19-21 October 2007 in Varna, Bulgaria (www.bgscb.org/Browse_Archives.htm and www.nutrigenomics-bg.com).