Diet Impact on Obesity beyond Calories and Trefoil Factor Family 2 (TFF2) as an Illustration: Metabolic Implications and Potential Applications.

Obesity is a health problem with increasing impacts on public health, economy and even social life. In order to reestablish the energy balance, obesity management focuses mainly on two pillars; exercise and diet. Beyond the contribution to the caloric intake, the diet nutrients and composition govern a variety of properties. This includes the energy balance-independent properties and the indirect metabolic effects. Whereas the energy balance-independent properties are close to "pharmacological" effects and include effects such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, the indirect metabolic effects represent the contribution a diet can have on energy metabolism beyond the caloric contribution itself, which include the food intake control and metabolic changes. As an illustration, we also described the metabolic implication and hypothetical pathways of the high-fat diet-induced gene Trefoil Factor Family 2. The properties the diet has can have a variety of applications mainly in pharmacology and nutrition and further explore the "pharmacologically" active food towards potential therapeutic applications.

Trefoil Factor Family Member 2 Expression as an Indicator of the Severity of the High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity.

Trefoil Factor Family Member 2 (TFF2) belongs to TFF family peptides that includes TFF1, TFF2, TFF3. TFF2 is mainly known for its roles in the mucosal protection. In the context of obesity and high fat diet (HFD), Tff2 has been characterized as a HFD-induced gene. The knock-out of Tff2 in mice lead to the protection from HFD-induced obesity with a metabolic profile towards a negative energy balance. Such HFD-specific expression gives Tff2 a pattern worth exploring in biomedical research. Indeed, measuring TFF2/TFF2/Tff2 expression in biological samples following the ingestion of high-fat diet reflects the biological "responsiveness" to the lipids ingestion and would reflect the severity of obesity establishment afterwards. Such property could be explored for instance to screen animal models, evaluate the predisposition to HFD-induced obesity as well as in biomedical and clinical applications. Results might advance obesity research especially in terms of understanding lipid-induced signals, appetite control and adiposity storage.

Trefoil Factor Family Member 2: From a High-Fat-Induced Gene to a Potential Obesity Therapy Target.

Obesity has its epidemiological patterns continuously increasing. With controlling both diet and exercise being the main approaches to manage the energy metabolism balance, a high-fat (HF) diet is of particular importance. Indeed, lipids have a low satiety potential but a high caloric density. Thus, focusing on pharmacologically targetable pathways remains an approach with promising therapeutic potential. Within this context, trefoil factor family member 2 (Tff2) has been characterized as specifically induced by HF diet rather than low-fat diet. TFF2 has also been linked to diverse neurological mechanisms and metabolic patterns suggesting its role in energy balance. The hypothesis is that TFF2 would be a HF diet-induced signal that regulates metabolism with a focus on lipids. Within this review, we put the spotlight on key findings highlighting this line of thought. Importantly, the hypothetical mechanisms pointed highlight TFF2 as an important contributor to obesity development via increasing lipids intestinal absorption and anabolism. Therefore, an outlook for future experimental activities and evaluation of the therapeutic potential of TFF2 inhibition is given. Indeed, its knockdown or downregulation would contribute to an antiobesity phenotype. We believe this work represents an addition to our understanding of the lipidic molecular implications in obesity, which will contribute to develop therapies aiming to manage the lipidic metabolic pathways including the absorption, storage and metabolism via targeting TFF2-related pathways. We briefly discuss important relevant concepts for both basic and clinical researchers.