Transcriptomic Profiling of Patients’ Human Brown and White Adipose Tissue Depots

Human adipose tissues are solid organs distributed throughout the body in specific locations and are thought to have dichotomous functions: white adipose tissue (WAT) stores triglycerides as an energy reservoir, and brown adipose tissue (BAT) uses metabolic fuels to generate heat. To define the transcriptional profile of six principal adipose depots, we analyzed tissue from 11 autopsies (3F/8M, 16-71y) of patients who had different underlying diseases. Despite global similarities in terms of cell type proportions, each depot had a distinct transcriptomic signature and functional profile. Each human’s adipose tissues were more similar to each other than to the anatomically and functionally matching depots in other patients. The transcriptomic pattern of subcutaneous WAT could even be used to predict the human donor. This pattern suggests that individualized factors such as genetics, age, environment, diet, and disease play impactful roles in coordinating the behavior of the whole-body adipose tissue depot.