Review Article The Role of Adipose Tissue in Insulin Resistance inWomen of African Ancestry

Copyright © 2013 Julia H. Goedecke et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Women of African ancestry, particularly those living in industrialized countries, experience a disproportionately higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to their white counterparts. Similarly, obesity and insulin resistance, which aremajor risk factors for T2D, are greater in black compared to white women. e exact mechanisms underlying these phenomena are not known. is paper will focus on the role of adipose tissue biology. Firstly, the characteristic body fat distribution of women of African ancestry will be discussed, followed by the depot-speci�c associations with insulin resistance. Factors involved in adipose tissue biology and their relation to insulin sensitivity will then be explored, including the role of sex hormones, glucocorticoid metabolism, lipolysis and adipogenesis, and their conse�uent effects on adipose tissue hypoxia, oxidative stress, and in�ammation. Finally the role of ectopic fat deposition will be discussed. e paper proposes directions for future research, in particular highlighting the need for longitudinal and/or intervention studies to better understand the mechanisms underlying the high prevalence of insulin resistanc