Updated: Deleting A Gene In Mice Prevents Obesity
March 11, 2013 | By Emily Mullin
Scientists may have found a way to prevent obesity, effectively curbing weight gain in mice that were given a high-fat diet
Updated: Deleting A Gene In Mice Prevents Obesity
March 11, 2013 | By Emily Mullin
Scientists may have found a way to prevent obesity, effectively curbing weight gain in mice that were given a high-fat diet.
[Ed; Again, Selling 'Hope' on Public Monies: "MAY" not Have found, and the response is DELETE IT Get RID of it.]The mechanism is the Plin2 gene, which is present in both humans and mice and produces a protein that regulates fat storage and metabolism. Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine created a new strain of mice by deleting the Plin2 gene. What they found was startling--the new mice without the gene were resistant to obesity.
"We had some idea that this would alter metabolism but didn't think it would have such a profound effect on obesity," said Professor James McManaman, lead author of the study and vice chairman of research for obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, to FierceBiotechResearch.
The researchers fed mice a high-fat diet, which under normal circumstances would have made the mice overeat. Instead, the mice exhibited restraint. They ate less and were more physically active. The fat cells of the new strain of mice without the Plin2 gene were also 20% smaller than those in typical mice, according to the study. They also didn't become inflammatory, a characteristic that is usually associated with obesity. In addition, mice without the Plin2 gene did not show any signs of obesity-associated fatty liver disease, which is common in both obese humans and rodents.
McManaman said the study's findings are important because it shows that genetics--not just diet--could be a major culprit in obesity. But there is still more work to be done.
"This is simply a preventative," he said. "We don't know if this could work in a mouse that is already obese and we could knock out this gene."
The next step for McManaman's team, he said, is to test the effects of deleting the gene in mice that are already obese. The ability to disrupt obesity could be a major breakthrough if the scientists eventually take their work to human studies.
- read the press release
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Editor's note: This story was updated to 