Critical link between obesity, diabetes identified

The RBP4 protein acts like a foreign pathogen to trigger inflammation of fat tissue -- and diabetes risk -- new research shows. Through a series of animal experiments, the authors discovered that high levels of RBP4 -- similar to what would be found in obese or insulin-resistant humans -- was the "foreign invader" that was providing the trigger for activation of the antigen-presenting cells, which then caused CD4 T cells to spring into action.