Researchers discovered a mechanism that allows "bad" white fat cells to be reprogrammed to behave as "good" brown fat, which helps burn off the pounds.
"Browning" of white adipose tissue helps increase the body's energy consumption, and could lead to new obesity-fighting strategies, the University of Southern Denmark reported.
"It has been a long process, and it has taken us four years to get where we are now, so it's obviously very satisfying when the results are so interesting and useful, as is the case here," said Ph.D. student Anne Loft, who played a key role in the research.
The research team worked to reprogram white fat cells into "brite" (brown-in-white) fat cells, which could prompt the body to use white adipose tissue to burn off excess energy as heat instead of storing it.
"We have investigated how the genome of white adipocytes is reprogrammed during browning using advanced genome sequencing technologies. We stimulated browning in human white adipocytes by a drug used to treat type II diabetes and compared white and 'brite' fat cells. This showed that 'brite' fat cells have distinct gene programs which, when active, make these cells particularly energy-consuming," said researcher Susanne Mandrup.
By identifying the regions of the genome involved in this reprogramming, the research team was able to identify KLF11 (Kruppel Like Factor-11), which plays an important role in the process.
"The discovery of the 'brite' fat cell mechanisms and the specific regulatory areas brings us closer to understanding how reprogramming of white fat cells takes place. This knowledge potentially means, that in the future we can target drugs to activate the genomic regions and browning factors like KLF11 in the treatment of obesity," said researcher Anne Loft.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Genes and Development.
