A newly identified hormone acts like a workout, and transforms bad fat into good.
Researchers have discovered a natural hormone that acts like exercise on muscle tissue—burning calories, improving insulin processing, and perhaps boosting strength. The scientists hope it could eventually be used as a treatment for obesity, diabetes, and, potentially, neuromuscular diseases like muscular dystrophy.
In a paper published online today by the journal Nature, the scientists, led by Bruce Spiegelman at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, showed that the hormone occurs naturally in both mice and humans. It pushes cells to transform from white fat—globules that serve as reservoirs for excess calories—into brown fat, which generates heat.
"We are hopeful, though we have no evidence, that this hormone may embody some of the other benefits of exercise, perhaps in the neuromuscular system," Spiegelman says. If so, it could also be used to treat disorders like muscular dystrophy and muscle wasting.
Along with stimulating brown fat development, irisin was shown to improve glucose tolerance, a key measure of metabolic health, in mice fed a high-fat diet.
Spiegelman added that as growing evidence implicates obesity and physical inactivity in cancer development, it's conceivable irisin-based drugs may have value in prevention and treatment of the disease.
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
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