Pathway discovered to help fat cells burn more energy

Researchers discovered a signaling pathway which allows fat cells to burn energy, potentially providing a mechanism to treat patients with obesity, according to a press release.

Zoltan P. Arany , MD, PhD, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and colleagues studied white adipocytes, which store energy and are found in adults, and brown adipocytes, where are prevalent in children and burn energy. They focused on the pathway that makes white adipocytes function more like brown adipocytes.

“It’s conceivable that one would be able to target this pathway with a drug, to push white fat to become brown fat and thereby treat obesity,” Arany said in the release.

The researchers found that the browning program in white adipocytes is suppressed by the interaction of two proteins: FLCN and mTOR. This interaction prevents the protein TFE3 from entering the cells.

In mice with their FLCN gene deleted in their white adipocytes, researchers found that TFE3 was able to enter the cell and active a protein called PGC-1, which started the browning program in the cells. The white adipocyte cells acted more like brown adipocytes.

“In principle, a drug that boosts the activity of PGC-1 or some of its target genes might serve as a therapeutic activator of the browning program to curb obesity and treat or prevent diabetes,” Arany said in the release.