C/EBP induces adipogenesis through PPAR : a unified pathway

PPAR and C/EBP are critical transcription factors in adipogenesis, but the precise role of these proteins has been difficult to ascertain because they positively regulate each other’s expression. Questions remain about whether these factors operate independently in separate, parallel pathways of differentiation, or whether a single pathway exists. PPAR can promote adipogenesis in C/EBP -deficient cells, but the converse has not been tested. We have created an immortalized line of fibroblasts lacking PPAR , which we use to show that C/EBP has no ability to promote adipogenesis in the absence of PPAR . These results indicate that C/EBP and PPAR participate in a single pathway of fat cell development with PPAR being the proximal effector of adipogenesis.