WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- American researchers have identified a protein they had investigated for its potential role in cancer to be a powerful regulator of metabolism that may help people lose weight.
The study published on Monday in the journal Scientific Reports found that forced expression of this protein in a lab strain of obese mice showed a remarkable reduction of their fat mass despite a genetic predisposition to eat all the time.
The protein FGFBP3, or BP3 for short, might offer a novel therapy to reverse disorders associated with metabolic syndrome, such as type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease, according to the study.
"We found that eight BP3 treatments over 18 days was enough to reduce the fat in obese mice by over a third," said the study's senior investigator, Anton Wellstein, a professor of oncology and pharmacology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Because BP3 is a natural protein and not an artificial drug, clinical trials of recombinant human BP3 could begin after a final round of preclinical studies, according to the investigators.
The treatments also reduced a number of obesity-related disorders in the mice, such as excess blood sugar that is often linked to diabetes, and eliminated the fat in their once fatty livers.
BP3 belongs to the family of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) binding proteins (BP), according to the study.
FGFs are found in organisms ranging from worms to humans and are involved in a wide range of biological processes, such as regulating cell growth, wound healing and response to injury. BP proteins are "chaperone" proteins that latch on to FGF proteins and enhance their activities in the body.
The team has previously studied the BP1 gene because its production is elevated in a range of cancers, suggesting that the growth of some cancers is linked to the excess delivery of FGFs.
