Image: Green depicts cells with inactivated PRDM16; red, a muscle protein is expressed; all nuclei, including those of brown fat cells, are blue.
What if fat could make you lose weight?
So suggests research into a little-known type of adipose tissue called brown fat.
Though it's commonly thought that fat -- beyond the bit necessary for insulation and spare energy -- is unequivocally bad, there are actually two types: white and brown.
White fat is the traditional bane of struggling dieters and would-be beach bunnies. Brown fat is quite different. It's full of mitochondria -- the body's energy-producing cellular machines -- and burns calories to produce heat.
Abundant in babies, whom it helps keep warm, brown fat is found only in traces in adults. But with a flick of two genetic switches, scientists showed that cells destined to become muscle have the potential to become brown fat.
If the findings -- presently observed in mice -- apply to humans, it could give people a new way to stay slim and prevent diabetes.
"In theory, you'd affect the whole energy metabolism of the organism," said Harvard Medical School cell biologist Bruce Spiegelman, co-author of one of two brown fat papers published today in Nature.
Spiegelman's team observed that some so-called muscle precursor cells developed into brown fat. This stopped when they inactivated the PRDM16 gene, suggesting the gene's critical role in brown fat formation. When another team of researchers, led by Harvard Medical School researchers Yu-Hua Tseng and C. Ronald Kahn, inactivated the BMP7 gene, mice again failed to develop brown fat.
Earlier research by Spiegelman showed that adding PRDM16 to white fat made it go brown. Adding genetic triggers to fat removed during liposuction or to precursor muscle cells could provide a brown fat supply that -- once re-implanted in the body -- would rapidly burn excess calories.
The findings "take us a step closer to the ultimate goal of promoting the brown fat lineage as a potential way of counteracting obesity,” writes University of Stockholm fat cell specialist Barbara Cannon in an analysis accompanying the papers. Cannon was not involved in either study.
Asked whether his technique could deprive the body of muscle, Spiegelman said that precursor muscle cells are self-replenishing: Redirect a few into brown fat, and they'll be quickly replaced.
But Spiegelman, who is now looking for gene-triggering pharmaceuticals, still advised caution.
"Would this work with a spoonful of brown fat, or a truckload? That's
not clear at this point," he said. "It's not ready for human beings.
But we're excited."
New role of bone morphogenetic protein 7 in brown adipogenesis and energy expenditure [Nature]
PRDM16 controls a brown fat/skeletal muscle switch [Nature]
Image: Courtesy of Patrick Seale
See Also:
- Wall-E's World? 86% of Americans Could Be Fat by 2030
- Fake Sugar Could Make You Fat
- Anti-Fat Shots Popular but Unproven
- New Anti-Obesity Drugs Could Stunt Kids' Brains
- No Quick Genetic Fix for Obesity
WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter and Del.icio.us feeds; Wired Science on Facebook.
Well, considering that most people just sit on their asses and don't ever build muscle or exercise, I'd say that fat-burning fat would be a net benefit for the sedentary and overweight among us
"In theory, you'd affect the whole energy metabolism of the organism,"
Well, nothing can go wrong with that scenario, I'm sure.
Hey! This is great news! It may be still in preliminary stages, but I'm convinced. Guess I can forget the salad and pick up a Big Mac on the way home tonight! Super-sized, please. Go PRDM16 and BMP7!
@Hoax:
I think the idea is to start by introducing the brown fat once (in a certain amount) and then let the brown fat help burn the excess calories and stop the accumulation of additional white fat. (Theoretically, this would also be paired with exercise that would then build muscle, further heightening metabolism.)
.
Of course, no clue as to whether this would actually work, or what it would do for people whose metabolisms are already depressed.
Here is a good idea.. how about eliminating the excess calories? It is a shame that research money is being wasted to help people be more lazy.
How about everyone stops eating 4000 calories a day and go for a walk?
@Doug-
While I agree that we bring this on ourselves, from a world productivity standpoint, if we can have all the benefits of activity, diet control and exercise without having to do so, that gives us more time to do more important things, and leaves us free to enjoy our lives more. The reason that this research is taking place is a bad one, but it is still good research.
P.S. I am an active person and am not fat.
WOW! I saw this story back in the early 90s on a TV show in England called Tomorrow's World! It was tested on human subjects and they were amazed at its results. The thing is, I believe that they actually said that the gene that was used would activate the brown fat cells (they said that although babies had the most brown fat, there was still some in adults).
we already waste so much and are wrecking the planet with our over-consumption. do we really want to alter our genes to make our bodies less efficient at storing and using energy so that we can consume even more?
@Doug:
You're obviously not a "fat-ass" who excercises daily, eats under their calorie amount but still can't loose weight. Then again, neither am I, but I know someone like that.
Sometimes it's not all burgers and fries / black and white, bro. This would be a boon for that type of person.
My heart is achin'
for some sizzlin' brown bacon.
@Cameron
good point, but what about the many effects of exercise - such as those that promote cardio-pulmonary health, good bone density, release of endorphins, etc? it's not all about keeping the fat at bay ... and i don't think any research groups are going to find a pill to mimic all of the life-extending effects of exercise any time remotely in the near future
This is how zombie movies start.
I don't know lauren, wired had an article on here a few weeks ago about an exercise pill. Couple that together with cocaine and paintball and you've got yourself an anti-fat, super muscle endorphin rich morally bankrupt good time.
@lauren
Very good points! Exercise really is in itself good, regardless of a person's size or body chemistry...
I am however, very disturbed by the blatant throwing in a non-fact into this article. Typical of the fact that writers on Wired seem to do little fact checking. There has never been scientific consensus that being fat is a cause of diabetes. It may, or may not be a risk factor, but the evidence is not really there - certainly not in this article.
"Diabetes mellitus occurs when the pancreas doesn't make enough or any of the hormone insulin, or when the insulin produced doesn't work effectively. In diabetes, this causes the level of glucose in the blood to be too high." Period. The actual culprit for this is not known by the medical or scientific community, and anyone who propels this myth is making a serious error in judgement.
Ummm... I just thought of something. As soon as we all alter our genes to no longer store fat when necessary, we might then be wiped out in some freaky climate change induced ice age. Game over!
@Hoax
"NO--I'll have zero muscle tone and be brown-fat and sweat more than ever."
Didn't you read where he said the muscle cells being used are self-replenishing?
"Redirect a few into brown fat, and they'll be quickly replaced."
This can benefit a ton of people. Studies have already been done to show a genetic link to obesity. There are people that diet and exercise and still can't lose weight and that may be why. This would be great news for them. Hell, some people just don't have the time to get good exercise. The people in this country working multiple jobs just to make ends meat would probably be too tired after their 2nd or 3rd job to do anything but sleep.
@Sgt. Sausagepants
Best Wired comment since I-don't-know-when.
Brown fat cells oxidize fat just to generate heat. There is an old drug that causes many cells to do the same thing: 2,4 dinitrophenol. DNP was one of the first drugs banned by FDA but is still used by some body builders who need to lose weight rapidly. Body builders who use it often have to sit in cold water to avoid lethal overheating while burning over a pound of fat each day. The correct explanation of how DNP works earned Peter Mitchell the 1978 Nobel prize in chemistry. When Mitchell proposed his theory in the 1960's he was first dismissed as a wacko but quickly vindicated.
They need to take the fat out, add the triggers, wait for conversion and put the fat back.
So, the triggers are bad, I mean you would not want them "Triggering" inside your body.
So Um, what happens if you do just inject the triggers? Does all your fat go brown, and start consuming muscle or something? Does the fat become sentient and strike off on it's own like that Doctor Who Episode?
So what prevents the bad from happening from some leftover triggers when you re-inject.
Will some peoples bodies be completely transformed into Adepose?
Were they trying to warn us with that episode? ;>
All right, no more trips to the gym! I'm gonna buy me a big screen TV and a lifetime supply of Cheetos! Seriously though, diet and exercise is still the best way to fight obesity (and I'm not talking about the extra five-to-ten pounds some of us carry around despite regular exercise). As far as diabetes, evidence or not, there's still a higher rate of diabetes among obese people than the general population, which, of course, does not denote causality. Take from it what you will - I gotta get to the gym.
So, to be clear- babies have a lot of brown fat-
Should I start eating babies now? is there a recommended number of chubby children one should consume for maximum weight loss?
I really need to know now!
I found a warehouse of babies up the street - it's like a walmart of kids- it's called a "Day Care"- I had no idea that weightloss was simply a dirty diaper away!
I guess Atkins was right all along!
It's always nice to hear people complain about how pointless something is when they don't have to deal with it themselves. Why don't you stupid people go around telling depressed people to just cheer up?
Is it so awful that some fat people could get some assistance by using something like this? The point isn't to give up on being healthy because you could have this procedure done, it is to be helpful along with regular exercise.
Go spend your time being miserable with life fighting with diets and exercise. It isn't easy changing your mentality. Go tell a racist asshole to stop hating, you think it'll happen just like that?
@Xanthus179: It's obvious that some overweight people cannot help it, and of course this brown fat thing holds a lot of promise for them. However, the vast majority of obese people are that way by choice, or should I say by a "sedentary mentality" Why bother exercise when there's so much new TV to watch? It's not about "giving up on being healthy", to give up, you'd have to be trying in the first place. If science can come up with an easy fix to make everyone healthier, I'm all for it. I just wish as a culture, we'd try to take some more responsibility for our own health.
It's sure is darn easy to harp and nag at people about 'all you need to do is eat less and exercise more' you a-holes. All the while having a complete disregard for the wide variety of issues that stop people from doing so.
I'll argue that this procedure would produce exactly the opposite result from those who claim we'd be more lazy. If one is less heavy and the chances of illness decrease and energy increases... suddenly I can do much more activity than I could before.
Sarcastic comments about being over-weight only serve to make the problem worse.
It's sure is darn easy to harp and nag at people about 'all you need to do is eat less and exercise more' you a-holes. All the while having a complete disregard for the wide variety of issues that stop people from doing so.
I'll argue that this procedure would produce exactly the opposite result from those who claim we'd be more lazy. If one is less heavy and the chances of illness decrease and energy increases... suddenly I can do much more activity than I could before.
Sarcastic comments about being over-weight only serve to make the problem worse.
How easy is it to switch this gene off and on? The article gives the sense that one can get it activated and inactivated fairly easily.
I'm surprised no one has hit on this yet; fat is not the only bad aspect of not exercising. There is cholesterol which can be helped by doing cardiovascular exercises, sodium loss by sweating out that bag of chips you ate last night, endorphins to just make you feel better in general etc... With what can be deemed a genetic health problem, a taste of being halfway there (less body fat), will make it much more inspirational to continue the cycle.
Note: I think the people that rip on fat people are the skinny people that are afraid this process will not make them self-proclaimed superiors anymore.
While good news for the Minnesota, Alaska, North Dakota, etc... winter tourism business (you'll need to frolic in a blizzard or cook your brain with the heat produced), don't let Al Gore find out. If we all burned our fat at once the polar ice caps would surely melt.
*
One other question: do laboratory mice die of natural causes anymore? It seems every cancer can be cured in mice, we can make them fat or thin, slow their metabolism and extend their life and grow pretty much any organ but a mouse brain. They are protected from predators and get free meals. Sure they get experimented on, but so do we every time a new drug, or a new chemical, or a new nano-particle is marketed and without a free meal, toned bod or new organ.
While good news for the Minnesota, Alaska, North Dakota, etc... winter tourism business (you'll need to frolic in a blizzard or cook your brain with the heat produced), don't let Al Gore find out. If we all burned our fat at once the polar ice caps would surely melt.
*
One other question: do laboratory mice die of natural causes anymore? It seems every cancer can be cured in mice, we can make them fat or thin, slow their metabolism and extend their life and grow pretty much any organ but a mouse brain. They are protected from predators and get free meals. Sure they get experimented on, but so do we every time a new drug, or a new chemical, or a new nano-particle is marketed and without a free meal, toned bod or new organ.
Ok, so they can take cells destined to become muscle and turn them into brown fat?
If it's all the same, I'd rather have the muscle.
Ken
www.kenstech.com
If this works, think of how many more hot girls there will be!
Does anyone else see a blatant problem here...Why has humanity evolved to stop producing brown fat after infancy? It's possible the gene pathways responsible for ending brown fat production play some other vital role in the human body. It just seems terribly immature to start talking about a weight loss drug here.
Of course there'd be plenty of idiotic comments about lazy people. Seriously, how many energy drinks and caffeinated products are on the market? A lot of skinny teens and adults buy those. Yes everyone should exercise and make the time if they can, but this research could really help with the preliminaries. People who have really gone too far need less fat and more energy to work out to get real result. The heavier something is, the harder it is to move. And eat real food please!
three words:
BABY BACK RIBS
Sounds pretty strange, but so do most great discoveries before they happen. There are so many approaches to fat burning. including surgery, why not add another to the list. As long as it's well tested and approved before it's launched.
Just stop eating.Dam! Its not really hard just set your mind to it.Dont eat all the PRDM16.
EDITOR: Betsy Mason | 
web sites:
"scientists have transformed cells destined to become MUSCLE into brown fat. ...it could give people a new way to stay slim and prevent diabetes."
NO--I'll have zero muscle tone and be brown-fat and sweat more than ever.