Gonna take a quick break on writing about Metabolic Syndrome.
Scientists have discovered a new way that the body burns fat to stay warm, which could help fight obesity and related health problems like diabetes and heart disease.
There are two types of fat in the body:
- White fat: Stores energy (this is the kind that can lead to weight gain).
- Brown fat: Burns energy to create heat and keep us warm.
Researchers found that a protein called Methylation-controlled J protein (MCJ or DnaJC15) can slow down the process of burning brown fat. When they removed this protein from mice, the mice burned more fat, lost weight, and became healthier—even when they were obese. In fact, just adding brown fat without the MCJ protein to obese mice helped them lose weight.
In short, MCJ is a mitochondrial protein that helps regulate how cells produce and use energy. It acts as a brake on mitochondrial activity, meaning it can slow down how much energy the cell generates.
This discovery is exciting because it means scientists might be able to develop a treatment that blocks MCJ in humans, helping people burn more fat naturally. But first, they need to make sure that blocking this protein won’t cause other health problems.
I did further research into how to control or manipulate MCJ. Researchers are able to hault its production in cells by using CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, a gene editing technology allows scientists to precisely modify DNA sequences within an organism). And then there cells that transform to cancer that cannot produce it.
Lifestyle factors may also play a role in modulating MCJ expression. For instance, studies have shown that MCJ levels decrease in brown adipose tissue (sciency term for brown fat tissue) during obesity, suggesting that weight management and dietary interventions could influence its expression. But that’s just corrilation and not a direct causation of MCJ manipulation.
This research could lead to new ways to prevent obesity and its health risks, making it easier for people to stay healthy
Resources:
Cicuéndez, Beatriz, et al. “Absence of MCJ/DnaJC15 Promotes Brown Adipose Tissue Thermogenesis.” Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, 13 Jan. 2025. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.
Navasa, Nicolás, et al. “Ikaros Mediates the DNA Methylation-Independent Silencing of MCJ/DNAJC15 Gene Expression in Macrophages.” Scientific Reports, vol. 5, 2015, p. 14692. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.
