Lipodystrophy syndromes are a group of genetic or acquired disorders in which the body is unable to produce and maintain healthy fat tissue.

A more specific term, lipoatrophy (from Greek lipo 'fat' and dystrophy 'abnormal or degenerative condition'), is used when describing the loss of fat from one area (usually the face).

The absence of fat tissue is associated with insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic syndrome.

Lipoatrophy is most commonly seen in patients treated with thymidine analogues and other older HIV drug treatments such as the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors [NRTIs] [9] like zidovudine (AZT) and stavudine (d4T).

[14] In Europe based on EMA, metreleptin should be used in addition to diet to treat lipodystrophy, where patients have loss of fatty tissue under the skin and build-up of fat elsewhere in the body such as in the liver and muscles.

[15] Volanesorsen is an Apo-CIII inhibitor[16][17] that is currently being investigated as a potential therapeutic to reduce levels of hypertriglycerides in Familial Partial Lipodystrophy patients in the BROADEN study.