Cited by 395Pancreatic function and diabetesInflammasome and immune disordersCannabis and Cannabinoid Research

Activation of the Nlrp3 inflammasome in infiltrating macrophages by endocannabinoids mediates beta cell loss in type 2 diabetes

Open access
Jourdan, Tony, Godlewski, Grzegorz, Cinar, Resat, Bertola, Adeline, Szanda, Gergő, Liu, Jie, Tam, Joseph, Han, Tiffany +6 more·2013·Nature Medicine

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) progresses from compensated insulin resistance to beta cell failure resulting in uncompensated hyperglycemia, a process replicated in the Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rat. The Nlrp3 inflammasome has been implicated in obesity-induced insulin resistance and beta cell failure. Endocannabinoids contribute to insulin resistance through activation of peripheral CB1 receptors (CB₁Rs) and also promote beta cell failure. Here we show that beta cell failure in adult ZDF rats is not associated with CB₁R signaling in beta cells, but rather in M1 macrophages infiltrating into pancreatic islets, and that this leads to activation of the Nlrp3-ASC inflammasome in the macrophages. These effects are replicated in vitro by incubating wild-type human or rodent macrophages, but not macrophages from CB₁R-deficient (Cnr1(-/-)) or Nlrp3(-/-) mice, with the endocannabinoid anandamide. Peripheral CB₁R blockade, in vivo depletion of macrophages or macrophage-specific knockdown of CB₁R reverses or prevents these changes and restores normoglycemia and glucose-induced insulin secretion. These findings implicate endocannabinoids and inflammasome activation in beta cell failure and identify macrophage-expressed CB₁R as a therapeutic target in T2DM.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nm.3265

Cites

71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Tonic ECB signaling in the BLA and elsewhere is mediated by AEA, whereas phasic ECB responses to robust neuronal activation are sub-served by 2-AG.

    “There is growing evidence that tonic ECB signaling in the BLA and elsewhere is mediated by AEA, whereas phasic ECB responses to robust neuronal activation are sub-served by 2-AG [53–56].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

1 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [68]Tesz GJ Glucan particles for selective delivery of siRNA to phagocytic cells in mice. Biochem. J 2011 436 351 362 21418037
  2. [71]Varga K Wagner JA Bridgen DT Kunos G Platelet- and macrophage-derived endogenous cannabinoids are involved in endotoxin-induced hypotension. FASEB J 1998 12 1035 1044 9707176

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Jourdan, T., Godlewski, G., Cinar, R., Bertola, A., Szanda, G., Liu, J., Tam, J., Han, T., Mukhopadhyay, B., Skarulis, M. C., Ju, C., Aouadi, M., Czech, M. P., & Kunos, G.
Affiliations
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • University of Colorado Anschutz (US)
  • University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
Corresponding author
  • Jourdan, Tony
  • Kunos, George
Venue
Nature Medicine
Published
2013-08-18
Volume
19
Issue
9
Pages
1132-1140
ISSN
  • 1078-8956 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-170X
OpenAlex
W2090548255
Cited by
388
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 49 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 6
FWCI
34.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network (American Medical Association) (submittedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (ZIAAA000350)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (P01AI046629, AI-046629)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK-085753, R01DK085753)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Pancreatic function and diabetes
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Inflammasome and immune disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
Keywords
NLRP3 inflammasome, endocannabinoids, anandamide, CB1 receptor, macrophages, beta-cell failure, type 2 diabetes, M1 macrophages, pancreatic islets, Zucker diabetic fatty rats, insulin resistance, inflammasome activation, glucose-stimulated insulin secretion
MeSH terms
NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein, Animals, Arachidonic Acids, Carrier Proteins, Cell Line, Cell Survival, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Humans, Hyperglycemia, Insulin Resistance, Islets of Langerhans, Macrophages, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Obesity, Apoptosis, Mice, Knockout, RNA Interference, RNA, Small Interfering, Insulin-Secreting Cells, Mice, Rats, Polyunsaturated Alkamides, Inflammasomes, Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists, Endocannabinoids

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review