Research progress of adipokine chemerin

Chemerin is a kind of adipokines discovered in 2007. Chemerin and its receptor CMKLR1 are widely distributed in tissues, especially in white adipose tissues, conducting biological effects in an autocrine/paracrine manner. Experimental and clinical data have indicated that localized and/or circulating chemerin expression are obviously elevated in numerous inflammatory and metabolic diseases. Chemerin plays an important role in inflammatory response, regulating adipocyte differentiation and metabolism, and its expression level is closely related to obesity, abnormal glucose metabolism, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The biological functions of chemerin in cells and animal models are discussed in present paper in order to further understand the relationship between chemerin and human health and diseases. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2016.05.1