Adipose tissue expression of IL-6R is enhanced in obesity.

<p>The subcutaneous adipose tissue samples were obtained by surgical biopsy from 10 lean/ overweight (BMI = 20.285 to 29.456) and 10 obese (BMI = 31.752 to 38.218) non-diabetic individuals and protein expression (intensity) of IL-6R was measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Group means were compared using unpaired <i>t</i>-test and all <i>P</i>-values ≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. The data show that (<b>A</b>) IL-6R expression was significantly elevated in the adipose tissue samples from obese (103.8±4.807) as compared with lean/ overweight (68.06±4.179) individuals (<i>P</i><0.0001). (<b>B</b>) The increase in IL-6R expression correlated positively with body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.80, <i>P</i><0.0001) and (<b>C</b>) percent body fat (PBF) (r = 0.69, <i>P</i> = 0.002). (<b>D</b>) The representative IHC photomicrographs (100× magnification) of IL-6R staining intensity (arrows) in the adipose tissue samples from lean, overweight, and obese individuals, 3 each, are shown. Similar photomicrographs at a wider field view (20× magnification) are shown in supporting <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0133494#pone.0133494.s001" target="_blank">S1 Fig</a>.