Abstract
Obesity affects gene expression and metabolism of white adipose tissue (WAT), which results in insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes. However, WAT is a heterogeneous organ containing many cell types that might respond differently to obesity-induced changes. We performed flow cytometry sorting and RNA expression profiling by microarray of major WAT cell types (adipocytes, CD45-/CD31-/CD34+ progenitors, CD45+/CD14+ monocytes/ macrophages, CD45+/CD14- leukocytes), which allowed us to identify genes enriched in specific cell fractions. Additionally, we included adipocytes and adipocyte progenitor cells obtained from lean and obese individuals. Taken together, we provide a detailed gene expression atlas of major human adipose tissue resident cell types for clinical/basic research and using this dataset provide lists of cell-type specific genes that are of interest for metabolic research.