TREM2 Protein - a Link between Obesity and Gender?

In his latest study, using bioinformatics tools, Prof. Ron Unger from the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University and his group explored the connection between the expression of Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2 (TREM2) and obesity. The TREM2 protein, which is expressed in immune cells, is implicated in cancer, neurodegenerative, and according to recent evidence, metabolic diseases as well. In order to examine the association between TREM2 and obesity, researchers analyzed the gene's expression level in 54 healthy tissues collected from almost 1000 individuals. The highest and most significant correlation between TREM2 expression and body mass index (BMI) was found in adipose tissue, with the correlation found to be more significant for males than for females. Additionally, the researchers examined the association between 8 frequent mutations in TREM2 and BMI, identifying a correlation between one of the mutations and obesity, though this association was evident only for females. The findings of this work warrant additional studies investigating the role of TREM2 in obesity and the intriguing gender effects.

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