Adipose tissue is an endocrine organ secreting different types of proteins, known as adipokines. These adipokines play important roles in homeostasis and metabolism. Adipocyte differentiation leads to a change in adipokine secretion profile which is probably involved in disruption of homeostasis. Many adipokines have been identified but species differences and limitations of human adipose tissue material urged the need for better model systems. Here we used a human cell strain derived from a Simpson Golabi Behmel syndrome (SGBS) patient. SGBS cells have already been used in functional studies on adipocytes but not in a proteomic search for adipokines. In this study, 2D-MS/MS and nLC-MALDI-MS/MS were applied to investigate secretion profiles of SGBS adipokines. A total of 80 secreted proteins were identified; 6 proteins are novel adipocyte secreted proteins, 20 proteins have not been detected before in human adipose material and 23 additional proteins previously detected in visceral adipose tissue have been found here secreted by SGBS-cells of subcutaneous origin. It can be concluded that SGBS cells are both a valid human cell model for adipocyte secretion profiling and for searching for novel human (pre)adipocytes secreted proteins.

Enlarged white adipose tissue (WAT) is a feature of obesity and leads to changes in its paracrine and endocrine function. Dysfunction of WAT cells is associated with obesity-associated disorders like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Resveratrol (RSV), a natural polyphenolic compound, mimics beneficial effects of calorie restriction. As such, RSV seems a promising therapeutic target for obesity-associated disorders. The effect of RSV on the human adipokine profile is still elusive. Therefore, a proteomic study together with bioinformatical analysis was performed to investigate the effect of RSV on the secretion profile of mature human SGBS adipocytes. RSV incubation resulted in elevated basal glycerol release and reduced intracellular TG content. This increased intracellular lipolysis was accompanied by profound changes in the adipocyte secretion profile. Extracellular matrix proteins were down-regulated while processing proteins were mostly up-regulated after RSV treatment. Interestingly, RSV induced secretion of proteins protective against cellular stress and proteins involved in the regulation of apoptosis. Furthermore, we found a RSV-induced up-regulation of adiponectin and ApoE accompanied by a down-regulation of PAI-1 and PEDF secretion which may improve anti-inflammatory processes and increased insulin sensitivity. These effects may contribute to alleviate obesity-induced metabolic complications. In addition, two novel RSV-regulated adipocyte-secreted proteins were identified.