Cloning Changes the Response to Obesity of Innate Immune Factors in Blood, Liver, and Adipose Tissues in Domestic Pigs

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of cloned pigs as porcine obesity models reflecting obesity-associated changes in innate immune factor gene expression profiles. Liver and adipose tissue expression of 43 innate immune genes as well as serum concentrations of six immune factors were analyzed in lean and diet-induced obese cloned domestic pigs and compared to normal domestic pigs (obese and lean). The number of genes affected by obesity was lower in cloned animals than in control animals. All genes affected by obesity in adipose tissues of clones were downregulated; both upregulation and downregulation were observed in the controls. Cloning resulted in a less differentiated adipose tissue expression pattern. Finally, the serum concentrations of two acute-phase proteins (APPs), haptoglobin (HP) and orosomucoid (ORM), were increased in obese clones as compared to obese controls as well as lean clones and controls. Generally, the variation in phenotype between individual pigs...