Emerging roles of sortilin in affecting the metabolism of glucose and lipid profiles

Dyslipidemia has recently been identified as an important factor in modulating the progression of several health conditions, grouped as cardiometabolic syndrome and including obesity, insulin resistance, and atherosclerosis. Among multiple factors which regulate the development of cardiometabolic syndrome, sortilin has been found in multiple cell types, such as adipocyte, hepatocyte, and macrophage, suggesting that sortilin is correlated to the development and the severity of cardiometabolic syndrome. Consistently, several genome-wide association studies and basic experimental research studies are being conducted to find novel gene loci involved in regulating the pathological progression of cardiometabolic syndrome. According to these data, both sortilin 1 gene and sortilin protein have an important function in regulating the circulating lipid and glucose metabolism resulting in modulation of disease progression. In this comprehensive review, we summarize the recent research results regarding sortilin function in modulating the circulating lipid and glucose metabolism. Moreover, we also discuss and analyze the emerging evidence elucidating the potential mechanisms by which sortilin affect synthesis and secretion of lipid and glucose.