REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1698207
Adipose tissue: an inflammatory organ that can not be ignored in periodontal disease related to obesity
Provisionally accepted
- 11.Department of Periodontology, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University,, Changchun, China
- 21.Department of Periodontology, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China
- 31.Department of Periodontology, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun, China
- 4Department of Periodontology, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China
- 52.Department of Oral Implantology, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China
- 6Department of Oral Implantology, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China
- 7Department of Periodontology, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun, Jili, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
In obesity, the pathological remodeling of adipose tissue characterized by hyperplasia and hypertrophy serves as a critical hub driving chronic inflammation. This process triggers adipose microenvironment disruption, manifesting as reduced angiogenesis, excessive extracellular matrix deposition, dysregulated adipokine secretion, and enhanced immune cell infiltration, ultimately leading to a systemic low-grade inflammatory state. Functioning as an active inflammatory organ, dysfunctional adipose tissue specifically exacerbates periodontitis progression through multiple mechanisms: including glucose/lipid metabolic imbalance, dysregulated bone metabolism with imbalanced osteoclast-osteoblast activity, immunometabolic disturbances, microcirculatory impairment, degradation of periodontal extracellular matrix and dysfunction of epithelial barrier and gut microbiota dysbiosis. This review systematically elucidates the interactive mechanisms between adipose tissue-derived inflammatory signaling and periodontal pathology, emphasizing its central role in obesity-associated periodontal diseases. Based on these mechanisms, we propose targeted intervention strategies: modulating adipokine secretion, suppressing immune cell infiltration in adipose tissue or restoring adipose tissue metabolic homeostasis may emerge as novel approaches to disrupt the obesity-periodontitis vicious cycle. Future studies might enhance the clinical translation of multi-organ treatment approaches that target the adipose tissue-periodontium axis while continuing to explore the regulatory effects of immune pathways specific to adipose tissue on the periodontal microenvironment.
Keywords: Adipose Tissue, Periodontitis, Obesity, chronic inflammation, immune metabolic disorder
Received: 04 Sep 2025; Accepted: 17 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Li, Huan, Zhou, Zhang, Fang, SUN, A and Xu. 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: Wenzhou Xu, xuwenzhou@jlu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.