Sex-Based Differences Regarding Obesity and Diabetes Cedars-Sinai Skip to content Close Select your preferred language English عربى 简体中文 繁體中文 فارسي עִברִית 日本語 한국어 Русский Español Tagalog English English عربى 简体中文 繁體中文 فارسي עִברִית 日本語 한국어 Русский Español Tagalog Translation is unavailable for Internet Explorer Cedars-Sinai Home 1-800-CEDARS-1 1-800-CEDARS-1 Close Find a Doctor Locations Programs & Services Health Library Patient & Visitors Community My CS-Link RESEARCH clear Go Close Navigation Links Academics Faculty Development Community Engagement Calendar Research Research Areas Research Labs Departments & Institutes Find Clinical Trials Research Cores Research Administration Basic Science Research Clinical & Translational Research Center (CTRC) Technology & Innovations News & Breakthroughs Education Graduate Medical Education Continuing Medical Education Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Professional Training Programs Medical Students Campus Life Office of the Dean Simulation Center Medical Library Program in the History of Medicine About Us All Education Programs Departments & Institutes Faculty Directory Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute Back to Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute About Us Research Areas Antipsychotic Drugs and Diabetes Research CB1 Receptor Antagonist and Adipocyte Studies Discovering Genes for Diabetes and Obesity Effects of High Altitude on Diabetes and Obesity Endothelial Dysfunction Impaired Insulin Resistance at the Cell Level Examining the Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Weight Examining the Role of Insulin Clearance During Insulin Resistance Facets of Diabetes and Obesity Research GLP 1 and Gut Brain Communication Research for Obesity and Diabetes Islet Beta Cell Research on Insulin Secretion Mathematical Modeling Studies for Glucose Metabolism Methane Producing Microbes and Obesity Sex-Based Differences Regarding Obesity and Diabetes Weight-Loss Surgeries for Treatment of Obesity and Diabetes Team Research Labs Job Opportunities Sex-Based Differences Regarding Obesity and Diabetes Sex hormones, adiposity and metabolism differences between men and women have researchers examining how estrogen, androgens and adipose tissue affect obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Research has shown that premenopausal women have lower rates of diabetes than men and women who have gone through menopause. Cedars-Sinai Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute (DORI) scientists are focused on understanding the role of estrogen in protecting against diseases associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome. In addition to being important in reproduction, estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is key in energy regulation. Estrogen receptors are shown to influence metabolism, obesity, cardiovascular disease, fat distribution, polycystic ovary syndrome, breast cancer, prostate cancer, epigenetics and maternal fetal programming. Estrogens have been shown to regulate metabolism, perhaps by acting as a leptin mimetic in the central nervous system (CNS) and periphery in the regulation of energy homeostasis. Deborah Clegg, PhD, is a researcher with DORI and a professor in the department of Biomedical Sciences. Her research uses rodent models to test whether androgens and estrogens are involved in the modulation of pathways that normally support metabolic function. Clegg's focus is to better understand the interactions between nutrients, estrogens and obesity in patients who develop breast cancer and Type 2 diabetes. Sex hormones in women have been shown to be protective in regulating weight and browning of fat. Following gastric bypass surgery, fat in men doesn't brown the way it does in women. Recent research also suggests that women's fat cells may be healthier than men's, in that women's fat cells expand to absorb the fat from a meal and prevent it from circulating in the bloodstream, whereas in men, extra calories turn into lipid droplets that course through the body. Current studies include: Investigate hormonal regulation of fat deposition to determine and track adipose lineage during menopause, as well as tracking and following estrogen replacement Examine mechanisms that control formation and remodeling of adipose tissue to determine whether and how remodeling of adipose tissue is altered by estrogen signaling. Identify, engineer and study mice that express molecular reporters in adipose lineage. Visualize adipose stem cells in vivo and follow their descendants as they divide, migrate and develop into mature adipocytes. Access estrogen-dependent remodeling. Delineate how estrogen remodels adipose tissue relative to adipose tissue deposition including intra-abdominal (visceral) adipose tissue, which increases with menopause, and subcutaneous adipose tissue (induced by estrogen). Integrate surgical (ovariectomy), pharmacological (estrogen) and genetic (adipose-lineage-specific estrogen receptor knockouts) manipulations to model these morphogenic transformations and determine how they affect adipose lineage specification using our newly developed mice. Define the mechanistic underpinnings of the estrogenic-remodeling effects on adipose stem cells, adipose niche cells and adipocytes, and elucidate how physiological and pharmacological stimuli regulate the stem population and the growth of adipose tissue. Determine new aspects of adipose biology and metabolic control and how estrogen provides a protective effect, highlighting those that are relevant to new therapies for obesity and diabetes. Estrogen reduces inflammation through ERα Examine the anti-inflammatory properties that the estrogen receptor ERα exerts peripherally in adipocytes and centrally in proopiomelanocortin (POMC)-positive neurons. Observe how peripheral tissues, such as adipose tissue, convey metabolic signals to the CNS, and how these signals are communicated back to the periphery, such as the liver. Study the specific role of inflammatory signals in this process by focusing on pro- and anti-inflammatory actions of several proteins in adipose tissue and within the CNS, such as the hypothalamus and the vagal afferent neurons in the nodose ganglia. Determine the role of estrogen in mediating anti-inflammatory properties through ERα both peripherally (in adipocytes) and centrally (in POMC -positive neurons). Female adipose tissue is more insulin sensitive, less susceptible to inflammation and has higher expression of estrogen receptors than male adipose tissue, due in part to ERα. The translational research being done will ideally elucidate opportunities to reduce obesity as well as the risk for metabolic diseases including cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes and cancers. Previous Research Morselli E, Fuente-Martin E, Finan B, Kim M, Frank A, Garcia-Caceres C, Navas CR, Gordillo R, Neinast M, Kalainayakan SP, Li DL, Gao Y, Yi CX, Hahner L, Palmer BF, Tschöp MH, Clegg DJ. Hypothalamic PGC-1α protects against high-fat diet exposure by regulating ERα. Cell Rep. 2014 October;9(2):633-645. http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/S2211-1247(14)00808- Lapid K, Lim A, Clegg DJ, Zeve D, Graff JM. Oestrogen signaling in white adipose progenitor cells inhibits differentiation into brown adipose and smooth muscle cells. Nat Commun. 2014 Oct 21;5:5196. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141021/ncomms6196/full/ncomms6196.html. Kim M, Neinast MD, Frank AP, Sun K, Park J, Zehr JA, Vishvanath L, Morselli E, Amelotte M, Palmer BF, Gupta RK, Scherer PE, Clegg DJ. ERα upregulates Phd3 to ameliorate HIF-1 induced fibrosis and inflammation in adipose tissue. Mol Metab. 2014 Sept;3(6):642-651. http://www.molmetab.com/article/S2212-8778(14)00107-0/fulltext. Cao X, Xu P, Oyola MG, Xia Y, Yan X, Saito K, Zou F, Wang C, Yang Y, Hinton A Jr, Yan C, Ding H, Zhu L, Yu L, Yang B, Feng Y, Clegg DJ, et al. Estrogens stimulate serotonin neurons to inhibit binge-like eating in mice. J Clin Invest. 2014 Oct 1;124(10):4351-4362. http://www.jci.org/articles/view/74726. Palmer BF, Clegg DJ. Oxygen sensing and metabolic homeostasis. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2014 Nov;397(1-2):51-58. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303720714002354. Park J, Morley TS, Kim M, Clegg DJ, Scherer PE. Obesity and cancer: mechanisms underlying tumor progression and recurrence. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2014 Aug;10(8):455-465. http://www.nature.com/nrendo/journal/v10/n8/full/nrendo.2014.94.html. Frank A, Brown LM, Clegg DJ. The role of hypothalamic estrogen receptors in metabolic regulation. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2014 May 29;35(4):550-557. pii: S0091-3022(14)00049-1. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091302214000491. Davis KE, Carstens EJ, Irani BG, Gent LM, Hahner LM, Clegg DJ. Sexually dimorphic role of G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) in modulating energy homeostasis. Horm Behav. 2014 Jun;66(1):196-207. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018506X14000269. Clegg DJ, Palmer BF. Effects of an estrogen receptor α variant. N Engl J Med. 2013 Oct 24;369(17):1663-1664. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1310364. Davis KE, Neinast MD, Sun K, Skiles WM, Bills JD, Zehr AJ, Zeve D, Hahner LD, Cox DW, Gent LM, Xu Y, Wand ZV, Khan SA, Clegg DJ. The sexually dimorphic role of adipose and adipocyte estrogen receptors in modulating adipose tissue expansion, inflammation and fibrosis. Mol Metab. 2013 Aug;2(3):227-242. http://www.molmetab.com/article/S2212-8778(13)00053-7/fulltext. Clegg DJ. Minireview: the year in review of estrogen regulation of metabolism. Mol Endocrinol. 2012 Dec;26(12):1957-1960. http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/me.2012-1284. Clegg DJ, Gotoh K, Kemp C, Wortman MD, Benoit SC, Brown LM, Brown LM, D’Alessio D, Tso P, Seeley RJ, Woods SC. Consumption of a high-fat diet induces central insulin resistance independent of adiposity. Physiol Behav. 2011 Apr 18;103(1):10-16. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938411000254. Clegg DJ, Brown LM, Zigman JM, Kemp CJ, Strader AD, Benoit SC, Woods SC, Mangiaracina M, Geary N. Estradiol-dependent decrease in the orexigenic potency of ghrelin in female rats. Diabetes. 2007 Apr;56(4):1051-1058. http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/56/4/1051.full. Clegg DJ, Heffelfinger SC. Obesity: its influence on breast cancer susceptibility. Womens Health (London). 2006 Jul;2(4):577-585. http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/abs/10.2217/17455057.2.4.577. Clegg DJ, Brown LM, Woods SC, Benoit SC. Gonadal hormones determine sensitivity to central leptin and insulin. Diabetes. 2006 Apr;55(4):978-987. http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/55/4/978.full. 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