New drug could ‘shrink’ harmful fat cells

What if there was a drug that could get rid of excess fat without the need for dieting? According to a recent study, such a feat might not be too far off.

Blocking the enzyme NNMT reduced the size of white fat cells in mice fed a high-fat diet.

A team of researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston reveal how using small molecules to block the enzyme nicotinamide-N-methyltransferase (NNMT) led to the “shrinkage” of fat cells in obese mice fed a high-fat diet.

Senior study author Stanley Watowich, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UTMB, and colleagues say that their findings indicate that targeting NNMT could be an effective way to tackle overweight and obesity.

The team recently published their results in the journal Biochemical Pharmacology.

The main cause of weight gain is an energy imbalance, wherein we consume more calories than we burn. This causes the body to store fat.

“As fat cells grow larger,” explains Watowich, “they begin to overexpress a protein that acts as a metabolic brake that slows down fat cell metabolism, making it harder for these cells to burn accumulating fat.”

“In addition,” he continues, “as the fat tissue expands, they secrete greater amounts of hormones and pro-inflammatory signals that are responsible for several chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

However, Watowich and his colleagues may have discovered a way to restart fat cell metabolism in white fat cells, which are those that cause the most harm to health.