The researchers at UC San Francisco have identified a new method that could alter the further treatment of obesity by transdifferentiating white fat cells that are responsible for storing energy, into beige fat cells that burn calories.
Thisdiscovery which appeared in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, openly contradicts previous research that only considered such a transformation possible via stem cells.
Dr. Brian Feldman of the research team said that depriving a protein referred to as KLF-15 would lead to the transformation of white fat cells into beige fat cells. ‘This I believe a lot of people thought was not possible,’ Feldman noted. “We indeed demonstrated that this concept in which this approach is applied to transform white fat to beige ones is correct but more importantly, we further proved that the barrier here is not as steep as we assumed.”
These are seen to be differentiated by the way they work as compared to other fat tissues; while the beige fat cells burn calories to produce heat, white fat cells store energy. This characteristic makes beige fat cells one of the possible targets for weight loss treatments and metabolic health enhancement.
Further, the study proposed that the protein KLF-15 is involved in the control of the fat cell operations. When knocking that protein up or down in mouse models, the researchers saw that white fat cell become beige cells. This transformation was associated with the regulation of a receptor called Adrb1 through which it helps to maintain energy homeostasis in the cells.
The contribution of this research is thus ironclad since it paves way for a new class of weight loss medications. Hence, modulating therapies for Adrb1 receptor that is present on fat cell membrane can offer more efficient and safer treatment rather than those drugs presently used that act on appetite or blood sugar level. Feldman said that this method might be free of side effects related to the drugs that target the brain and that effects may be longer lasting because fat cells are long-lived in the body.
“I would say that we are not quite at the finish line; however, we are in a position where it is easy to comprehend how these discoveries could have a substantial influence on the management of obesity,” responded Feldman.
In addition to enriching the knowledge of fat cell biology, this finding wants to pave the way to the creation of effective anti-obesity drugs. While the research continues, these prospects present the possibility of translating these findings into clinically applicable treatments for millions of people with obesity and related metabolic diseases.