Research progress of novel adipokines in obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Obesity, defined as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of adipose tissue, is strongly associated with an increased risk of various metabolic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which shares many common pathogenic factors that drive each other in a vicious circle and whose exact pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. Recently, adipokines synthesised and secreted by adipose tissue have been found to play pleiotropic roles in the progression of obesity and T2DM, and are expected to be a targeted drug or predictive biomarker to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of clinical diseases. This review summarizes the recent research progress of several newly identified adipokines in obesity and T2DM, including meteorin-like, neuregulin 4 (Nrg4), asprosin, and isthmin-1, in order to reveal the unknown crosstalk between adipokines in metabolic disorders in obesity and T2DM, and to explore their early diagnostic and therapeutic potentials.