Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Tests of an experimental new drug in mice has found that it can effectively convert “bad” white fat into “good” brown fat, leading the rodents to lose weight and fat, scientists from the Houston Methodist Research Institute have discovered in a new study.
Lead author Dr. Kevin Phillips, who presented his findings Friday at the 97th annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego, said that the drug known as GC-1 speeds up metabolism, or the burning off of fat cells. His findings indicate that GC-1 could be used to treat obesity.
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“GC-1 dramatically increases the metabolic rate,” Dr. Phillips said in a statement, “essentially converting white fat, which stores excess calories and is associated with obesity and metabolic disease, into a fat like calorie-burning brown fat.”
Defeating the metabolic villain
Until recently, scientists believed that only animals and human infants possessed brown adipose tissue, which helps burn energy. However, the new study indicates that adult humans have brown fat as well, but that its calorie-burning abilities lose their effectiveness over time.
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As Dr. Phillips explained, white adipose tissue, becomes a “metabolic villain” when there is too much of it in the body. Previous research has demonstrated that people who have more brown fat have a reduced risk of obesity and diabetes, leading scientists to search for ways to convert white adipose tissue into brown adipose tissue.
Enter GC-1, which Dr. Phillips and his colleagues report activates the receptors for thyroid hormones that play a role in regulating metabolism, or the process used by the body to convert food into energy. Thyroid hormone receptors also help with the process known as adaptive thermogenesis, through which a body changes extra energy (calories and fat) into heat.
Battling obesity and diabetes
The Houston Methodist Research Institute said that they tested the drug in hundreds of mice in research that was partially funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Mice that were naturally obese and those with diet-induced obesity were treated with the drug daily, and those who were genetically obese lost over 50 percent of their fat mass in about two weeks.
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Furthermore, mice treated with GC-1 also showed antidiabetic effects, including at least a sixfold improvement insulin sensitivity (how well the body clears glucose from the bloodstream). The drug induced adaptive thermogenesis in fat cells isolated from mice as well, and cell cultures and tissue samples from obese mice both showed signs of white fat being converted into brown.
While the drug has not yet been tested in humans for weight loss, clinical trials for it are currently underway in the form of the cholesterol-lowering drug sobetirome. However, the study authors note that the doses used in the cholesterol-lowering studies are much lower than what would be needed for weight loss.
Even so, Dr. Phillips noted his team’s findings demonstrate that GC-1 “is a novel fat-browning agent” which could be used to help treat obesity and metabolic syndrome, a disorder of energy storage and usage marked by high blood pressure, high plasma glucose levels, low high-density cholesterol (HDL) levels and other medical issues linked to cardiovascular disease.
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