REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Obesity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1667037
This article is part of the Research TopicTargeting Adipose Tissue for the Treatment of Metabolic AlterationsView all 8 articles
White adipose tissue browning and Peroxisome proliferator activated receptors in MASLD
Provisionally accepted
- Division of Gastroenterology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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Metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has emerged as the predominant global etiology of chronic liver disease, with its incidence and prevalence continuously rising amid the obesity epidemic. The human body contains two primary types of adipose tissue: white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT). The process of adipose tissue browning refers to the phenomenon wherein WAT acquires BAT like characteristics under specific conditions, leading to the generation of beige adipocyte clusters within WAT. This process is critically linked to metabolic diseases such as MASLD. Peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) constitute a class of nuclear receptor proteins that function as transcription factors to regulate gene expression. PPARs play pivotal roles in adipose tissue biology, particularly in the process termed adipose tissue browning. These functions of PPARs have garnered significant attention due to their potential as therapeutic targets for MASLD and metabolic syndromes, including obesity, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. PPARs may exert therapeutic effects on MASLD by promoting white adipose tissue browning; however, this mechanism lacks robust clinical evidence, and the safety profile of PPAR agonists requires further comprehensive evaluation.
Keywords: Metabolic dysfunction associated liver disease, Peroxisome proliferator activated receptors, white adipose tissue, Beige adipocytes, white adipose tissue browning
Received: 16 Jul 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Chu and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Huikuan Chu, Division of Gastroenterology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Ling Yang, Division of Gastroenterology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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