Modulators of metabolism: Pathways to insulin resistance

The prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide the last several decades. Obesity is associated with complications such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, and as a result, obesity is associated with increased mortality. One of the major underlying mechanisms by which obesity leads to its complications is the development of insulin resistance, i.e. the diminished biological response to insulin. The only treatment modality that has been proven effective in the long term is bariatric surgery. In this thesis, we aimed to investigate some of the pathways and mechanisms that contribute to obesity-induced insulin resistance. In addition, we studied the effect of bariatric surgery-induced weight loss on some of these parameters as well as which clinical parameters predict the metabolic success of this type of surgery in the long term.