{"id":974,"date":"2019-07-11T11:53:59","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T15:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/?p=974"},"modified":"2026-05-01T13:04:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:04:18","slug":"leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Leitinger Lab Discovery Reveals How Obesity Causes Disease and How We Can Stop It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-500\" src=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/Serbulea-Leitinger_smsq.jpg\" alt=\"Vlad Serbulea and Leitinger\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" \/>New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine explains why obesity causes harmful inflammation that can lead to diabetes, clogged arteries and other health problems. Doctors may be able to use this knowledge to battle these chronic diseases and others driven by damaging inflammation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll these diseases have a common denominator,\u201d said researcher Vlad Serbulea, PhD. \u201cIt may well be that we\u2019ve identified what starts off the whole cascade of inflammation and metabolic changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine explains why obesity causes harmful inflammation that can lead to diabetes, clogged arteries and other health problems. Doctors may be able to use this knowledge to battle these chronic diseases and others driven by damaging inflammation. \u201cAll these diseases have a common denominator,\u201d said researcher [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-highlights","tag-delete"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Leitinger Lab Discovery Reveals How Obesity Causes Disease and How We Can Stop It - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leitinger Lab Discovery Reveals How Obesity Causes Disease and How We Can Stop It - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine explains why obesity causes harmful inflammation that can lead to diabetes, clogged arteries and other health problems. Doctors may be able to use this knowledge to battle these chronic diseases and others driven by damaging inflammation. \u201cAll these diseases have a common denominator,\u201d said researcher [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-11T15:53:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-01T17:04:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/Serbulea-Leitinger_smsq.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"School of Medicine Webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"School of Medicine Webmaster\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"School of Medicine Webmaster\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569\"},\"headline\":\"Leitinger Lab Discovery Reveals How Obesity Causes Disease and How We Can Stop It\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-11T15:53:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-01T17:04:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":92,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Serbulea-Leitinger_smsq.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Delete\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research Highlights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/leitinger-lab-discovery-reveals-how-obesity-causes-disease-and-how-we-can-stop-it\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leitinger Lab Discovery Reveals How Obesity Causes Disease and How We Can Stop It - 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