Editorial Endothelial Nuclear Factor B in Obesity and Aging Is Endothelial Nuclear Factor B a Master Regulator of Inflammation and Insulin Resistance?

Insulin resistance is a major characteristic of type 2 diabetesmellitus and develops in multiple organs, including skele-tal muscle, liver, adipose tissue, and heart.1 Insulin resistance is caused by obesity and therefore establishes an important causal relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.2 Insulin resistance also develops in aging, but this process is less well understood. Obesity is a complex physi-ological state, with alterations in lipid metabolism, dysregu-lated production of hormones, ectopic accumulation of fat, mitochondrial dysfunction, and chronic low-grade inflamma-tion.3,4 All of these abnormalities may independently cause insulin resistance and affect glucose homeostasis, which make insulin resistance equally as complex as obesity itself. Article see p 1122 Nuclear factor B (NF-B) is a complex of transcription factors that regulate cytokine gene expression and the inflam