CCAAT/Enhancer binding protein β in relation to ER stress, inflammation, and metabolic disturbances

Abstract

The prevalence of themetabolic syndrome and underlyingmetabolic disturbances increase rapidly in developed countries. Various molecular targets are currently under investigation to unravel themolecular mechanisms that cause these disturbances.This is done in attempt to counter or prevent the negative health consequences of the metabolic disturbances. Here, we reviewed the current knowledge on the role of C/EBP-β in thesemetabolic disturbances. C/EBP-β deletion in mice resulted in downregulation of hepatic lipogenic genes and increased expression of β-oxidation genes in brown adipose tissue. Furthermore, C/EBP-β is important in the differentiation and maturation of adipocytes and is increased during ER stress and proinflammatory conditions. So far, studies were only conducted in animals and in cell systems. The results found that C/EBP-β is an important transcription factor within the metabolic disturbances of the metabolic system.Therefore, it is interesting to examine the potential role of C/EBP-β at molecular and physiological level in humans.