Enzyme that protects cells from toxic fat identified
The new finding contributes to a fuller understanding of the fundamental biology that underlies common metabolic diseases related to obesity, such as type 2 diabetes, fatt y liver disease, and heart failure, and could lead to new insights on how to better treat such diseases. The study will be published online August 1, 2017 in Cell Metabolism . "We are excited about these findings -- they solve a mystery and show how fat synthesis protects cells from dysfunction and disease," said Robert Farese, Jr., professor of genetics and complex diseases at Harvard Chan School. Lead author of the study was Harvard Chan research fellow Chandramohan Chitraju. The researchers looked at what happens to triglycerides (a type of fat) in cells during lipolysis, the process through which the triglycerides are broken down into fatty acids and transported for energy use to other tissues in the body. For decades, scientists have wondered why some triglycerides, after being broken down ...