• An obesity treatment for women only?

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Wed Mar 9 21:30:50 2022
    An obesity treatment for women only?

    Date:
    March 9, 2022
    Source:
    University of Virginia Health System
    Summary:
    Researchers have identified a potential way to battle the health
    effects of obesity and type 2 diabetes in women after discovering
    an important factor that could determine how their bodies use and
    store fat.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have identified a potential way to battle the health effects of obesity and type 2 diabetes
    in women after discovering an important factor that could determine how
    their bodies use and store fat.


    ========================================================================== Based on their new discovery, the researchers, led by Associate Professor
    of Biomedical Engineering Mete Civelek, PhD, were able to change whether
    female lab mice's bodies stored fat subcutaneously (under the skin)
    or viscerally (wrapped around the organs). While visceral fat goes
    unseen, hidden deep inside the body, it can be particularly harmful to
    good health.

    The researchers say their results in mice suggest that a similar approach
    could help treat the effects of obesity and battle metabolic diseases,
    such as diabetes, in women.

    "There is a strong need for targeted therapies against metabolic
    abnormalities caused by obesity and diabetes," said the study's first
    author, Qianyi Yang, PhD, of UVA's Center for Public Health Genomics. "We
    hope that increasing KLF14 abundance in fat cells of females with obesity
    and diabetes may provide a novel treatment option to alleviate these
    metabolic abnormalities." How We Store Fat Men and women naturally store
    fat differently. Men tend to be more apple- shaped, meaning they store
    fat around the waist, while women tend to be more pear-shaped. This is
    because women store more subcutaneous fat and less visceral fat in their
    lower body. Civelek's new findings help explain why.



    ========================================================================== Civelek and his team were investigating a particular gene, KLF14, that
    has been linked to many different metabolic problems, including type
    2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. These health associations are
    more pronounced in women than men, but scientists haven't understood
    the reason.

    Civelek and his collaborators found that the KLF14 gene is a key regulator
    of how the female body uses lipids (fats). The gene makes a protein that
    plays a critical in how fat cells form, what type of fat they turn into
    and where they are stored. When Civelek's team blocked the production of
    this protein in lab mice, they noticed very different effects in males
    and females: Females gained fat, while males lost it. The females also
    stored fat differently than normal, gaining more visceral fat and less subcutaneous fat.

    There were other sex-specific changes as well: The female mice suffered
    slower metabolic rates and faster breathing, suggesting they were relying
    more on carbohydrates for fuel. And their bodies became less efficient
    at managing triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood.

    Interestingly, when the researchers amped up production of the KLF14
    protein in in female mice, the mice lost weight. But male mice did not.

    Based on what they've found, the researchers believe that increasing
    production of the KLF14 protein in fat cells in women may offer a way to
    treat the harmful effects of obesity and type 2 diabetes. More research
    will be needed, but the researchers say it is promising that their mouse findings align closely with what we see in humans.



    ==========================================================================
    "We are now working to create a drug delivery system that will target fat
    cells and deliver a small molecule to increase KLF14 abundance," Civelek
    said. "We hope to translate our laboratory's findings to the clinic to
    help women fight the effects of obesity and diabetes." Obesity Findings Published The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Diabetes, a publication of the American Diabetes Association. The research team consisted of Yang, Jameson Hinkle, Jordan N. Reed,
    Redouane Aherrahrou, Zhiwen Xu, Thurl E. Harris, Erin J. Stephenson,
    Kiran Musunuru, Susanna R. Keller and Civelek. Musunuru is an adviser
    and holds equity in Verve Therapeutics and Variant Bio.

    The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, grant R01
    DK118287, and the American Diabetes Association, grant 1-19-IBS-105.

    UVA's Department of Biomedical Engineering is a collaboration of UVA's
    School of Medicine and School of Engineering.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    University_of_Virginia_Health_System. Note: Content may be edited for
    style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Qianyi Yang, Jameson Hinkle, Jordan N. Reed, Redouane Aherrahrou,
    Zhiwen
    Xu, Thurl E. Harris, Erin J. Stephenson, Kiran Musunuru, Susanna R.

    Keller, Mete Civelek. Adipocyte-Specific Modulation of KLF14
    Expression in Mice Leads to Sex-Dependent Impacts on Adiposity
    and Lipid Metabolism.

    Diabetes, 2022; DOI: 10.2337/db21-0674 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220309095004.htm

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