Adiponectin inhibits Toll-like receptor family-induced signaling

Recent studies have shown that adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived cytokine, acts as a potent inhibitor of inflammatory responses. It has been also demonstrated that bacterial and viral signalings in host cells are triggered via Toll-like receptor (TLR) molecules. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated whether globular adiponectin (gAd) would be able to inhibit TLR-mediated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling in mouse macrophages (RAW264). gAd predominantly bound to the AdipoR1 receptor and suppressed TLR-mediated NF-κB signaling. gAd-mediated inhibition of TLR-mediated IκB phosphorylation and NF-κB activation was eliminated by the pretreatment of cycloheximide. Also their inhibitions of gAd were blocked by preincubation of the cells with an antibody against AdipoR1, but not with an antibody against AdipoR2. Taken together, these findings indicate that adiponectin negatively regulates macrophage-like cell response to TLR ligands via an unknown endogenous product(s).