A new drug´, the bexarotene, manages to reprogram the cells and alter the metabolism of the fats, so that the known as ‘brown’ prevails and tend to reabsorb the ‘white’.
While the first serves to mobilize body energy, the second is stored and gives rise to obesity and alterations such as type II diabetes.That is why scientists have seen a future utility in the use of the substance: to combat metabolic syndrome (obesity, diabetes and arterial hypertension).
The compound, an anticancer baptized as Bexarotene (BEX) approved by the American drug agency (FDA), is one of the 20,000 that have undergone examination in a wide spectrum study published in Cell Reports.
In this work, the scientists of the Laboratory of the senior researcher at Gladstone Sheng Ding, have used cell reprogramming to convert precursor cells of muscle and white fat cells into others of brown fat.
"Introducing brown fat is a new exciting approach to treating obesity and associated metabolic diseases, such as diabetes," said the first author of the study, Baoming Nie, former postdoctoral researcher in Gladstone.
"Introducing brown fat is a new exciting approach to treating obesity or diabetes"
“All current drugs to lose weight control the appetite and there is nothing in the market that points to the
energy expenditure.If we can create additional brown fat reserves and increase your function in the body, we could more easily burn the energy stored in white fat, ”he said.
A regulatory protein, Diana del Medicima
Bex acts on a "master regulatory" protein called Receiver X Retinoid (RXR), which controls a network of other cell proteins.RXR activation triggers a waterfall of changes in muscle precursor cells and white fat that, ultimately, makes them cells similar to brown fat.
Specifically, when the RXR is stimulated from BEX, the genes necessary to produce brown fat are activated and those related to white fat or muscle are deactivated.To prove how Bex controls body weight, the authors fed mice with a high calorie diet for four weeks, but only treated half of the rodents with the drug.
The animals that Bex received had more brown fat, burned more calories, presented less body fat and gained less weight than those who received the same diet but were not given the drug.
little specific and with side effects
"We are very excited about the perspective of using a medication to generate brown fat in the body - Ding said -".“However, while Bex is very effective in creating brown fat cells, it is not a very specific medication, and there are several potential side effects that may arise from taking it.Our next task is to develop a safer and more specific drug that only affects the genes involved in the creation of brown fat, ”he said.