Unraveling adipose tissue proteomic landscapes in severe obesity: insights into metabolic complications and potential biomarkers

Figures

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  Figure 1.. The most differentially expressed proteins in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). A: volcano plot displaying differential protein expression analysis, with significantly upregulated proteins in SAT (green) and VAT (red) highlighted. B: box plot illustrating the differences in intensity values between SAT and VAT for the most differentially expressed proteins, with crosses representing imputed values and dots denoting experimental intensity values. C: protein abundance rank plot for the most differentially expressed proteins, where the mean intensity values of all measured proteins are ordered from highest to lowest and ranked accordingly. This plot demonstrates the relative representation of these proteins within the entire adipose tissue (AT) proteome.

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  Figure 2.. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of differentially expressed proteins in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis for differentially expressed proteins in SAT (n = 693) and VAT (n = 556) conducted using Cytoscape GlueGO plug-in with a two-cluster approach. Only GO terms of levels 5–8 were considered, with a significance threshold of 0.05, and redundant groups with >50% overlap were merged. The figure displays the most significantly enriched terms (adj. P value <0.05) for biological processes (BP), cellular components (CC), and molecular functions (MF), emphasizing the distinct enrichments between SAT and VAT.

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  Figure 3.. Protein pathway and interaction analysis for differentially expressed proteins in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). The figure presents the most significant Reactome pathways and reactions (P values < 0.05) for SAT and VAT differentially expressed proteins, along with associated proteins and protein-protein STRING interaction links, visualized using the Cytoscape GlueGO + CluePedia plug-in. Reactome pathway and reaction term nodes for SAT and VAT are represented as red and blue circles, respectively. Node size indicates significance, with larger nodes being more significant. Transparent nodes denote shared upregulated proteins between both groups, while gray nodes signify equal enrichment by proteins from both tissues. Bright red and green edges represent the protein’s ability to activate or inhibit the interacting protein. The most significant terms of each cluster group are displayed and manually adjusted for a reader-friendly pathway network. Comprehensive pathways and networks with group cluster affiliation can be found in Supplemental File S9.

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  Figure 4.. Pathway and reaction analysis of differentially expressed proteins in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Reactome pathway and reactions enrichment analysis for all significantly upregulated proteins in SAT (A) and VAT (B). The figures display the most significant terms (P values <0.05) using the built-in Reactome Voronoi diagram visualization tool. Terms are visualized based on the Reactome event hierarchy, with the most significant terms highlighted in bright yellow.

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  Figure 5.. Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) module-traits relationships. Relationships between SAT module eigengenes derived from weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) and selected clinical variables, along with corresponding Pearson correlation P values. Strong positive correlations are represented in red, while strong negative correlations are in blue; numbers within individual cells indicate the correlation coefficient and (P value). Significant module-trait correlations (P value < 0.05) with an absolute correlation value >0.5 are highlighted in bold. Module sizes are provided in brackets. Waist1 refers to waist circumference measured at the inferior margin of the ribs, and Waist2 denotes measurements at the umbilical level. BI, bioimpedance; BMI, body mass index; BSA, body surface area; DXA, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; TAG, triacylglycerols.

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  Figure 6.. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) module-traits relationships. Relationships between VAT module eigengenes derived from weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) and selected clinical variables, along with corresponding Pearson correlation P values. Strong positive correlations are represented in red, while strong negative correlations are in blue; numbers within individual cells indicate the correlation coefficient and (P value). Significant module-trait correlations (P value < 0.05) with an absolute correlation value >0.5 are highlighted in bold. Module sizes are provided in brackets. Waist1 refers to waist circumference measured at the inferior margin of the ribs, and Waist2 denotes measurements at the umbilical level. BI, bioimpedance; BMI, body mass index; BSA, body surface area; DXA, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; TAG, triacylglycerols.

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  Figure 7.. Serum module-traits relationships. Relationships between serum module eigengenes derived from weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) and selected clinical variables, along with corresponding Pearson correlation P values. Strong positive correlations are represented in red, while strong negative correlations are in blue; numbers within individual cells indicate the correlation coefficient and (P value). Significant module-trait correlations (P value < 0.05) with an absolute correlation value >0.5 are highlighted in bold. Module sizes are provided in brackets. Waist1 refers to waist circumference measured at the inferior margin of the ribs, and Waist2 denotes measurements at the umbilical level. BI, bioimpedance; BMI, body mass index; BSA, body surface area; DXA, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; TAG, triacylglycerols.