From Metabolic Crosstalk to Therapeutic Innovation: Inter-Organ Crosstalk and Endocrine-Metabolic Homeostasis

Metabolic homeostasis depends on the continuous, bidirectional communication between endocrine tissues and metabolic organs – adipose tissue, pancreatic islets, liver, skeletal muscle, and brown fat – coordinated by hormones, adipokines, incretins, myokines, and other secreted mediators. Disruption of these inter-organ dialogues is now recognized as a central mechanism underlying metabolic dysfunction, extending well beyond classical metabolic disease to influence immune regulation, developmental programming, and organ-specific adaptation across the life course. Understanding how these signals are generated, transmitted, and integrated at the molecular, cellular, and whole-body level remains one of the central challenges in endocrine-metabolic research.Adipose tissue exemplifies this complexity: far from a passive energy store, it is an active endocrine organ whose plasticity, cellular heterogeneity, and secretory profile shape islet function, hepatic metabolism, and systemic energy balance, with recent single-cell and spatial approaches beginning to resolve this heterogeneity at unprecedented resolution. Brown adipose tissue, pancreatic beta cells, liver, and skeletal muscle each contribute distinct signals to this network, and their crosstalk is further shaped by sex, developmental stage, nutritional status, and physical activity. At the same time, advances in incretin biology, mitochondrial and redox regulation, and multi-omics and computational methodologies are opening new avenues to dissect these mechanisms mechanistically and to translate them into novel therapeutic strategies for metabolic and rare metabolic-vascular diseases.Within the framework of the 12th International MetNet Meeting 2026 (Barcelona, October 29th and 30th, 2026), this Research Topic aims to bring together mechanistic, translational, and methodological research that advances understanding of inter-organ and endocrine-metabolic crosstalk. The focus is primarily basic and mechanistic, spanning adipose tissue, pancreatic islets, liver, muscle, and the neurovascular axis, while also welcoming translational contributions on novel therapeutic strategies for metabolic and rare vascular-metabolic diseases. We welcome original research, review, mini-review, perspective and other article types addressing, but not limited to, the following subtopics:• Adipose tissue–islet communication and the endocrine control of beta-cell function• Adipose tissue plasticity, heterogeneity, and dysfunction across the lifespan and between sexes• Brown adipose tissue and inter-organ fuel/energy crosstalk with liver, pancreas and muscle• Incretin, adipokine, hepatokine, and myokine signaling in metabolic regulation• Inter-organ endocrine–metabolic–immune and neurovascular crosstalk• Mitochondrial biology, redox regulation, and metabolic flux in endocrine and cellular function• Endocrine-metabolic adaptation to exercise, nutrition, and environmental factors• Developmental programming, sex/gender differences, and life-course endocrine-metabolic regulation• Single-cell, spatial, multi-omics, and AI-enabled approaches linked to endocrine-metabolic mechanisms• Translational and clinical research on novel therapies for metabolic and rare vascular-metabolic diseases Topic editors: Rebeca Fernández-Ruiz, Marijana Todorcevic, Joel Montane Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82668/from-metabolic-crosstalk-to-therapeutic-innovation-inter-organ-crosstalk-and-endocrine-metabolic-homeostasis