Cell Metabolism News and Research

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Seeing the full picture, real-time analysis of live-cells

Every cell is a miniature factory taking in raw material (extracellular signals) and processing it to produce something (a biological response). But unlike a factory that can be easily tweaked to run at steady-state and look the same from day to day, cells are dynamic.

From Sartorius 7 Sep 2017

Study sheds light on virulence strategy of intracellular bacteria that cause legionellosis

Intracellular pathogens adopt various strategies to circumvent the defences of the host cell and to proliferate intracellularly. One specific strategy is to target host organelles like the mitochondria. Mitochondria are well-defined cytoplasmic organelles, which take part in a variety of cellular metabolic functions.

7 Sep 2017

Discovery of sugar 'warehouse' provides new metabolic target to regulate immune activity

A surprising discovery that immune cells possess an internal warehouse of glycogen used to activate immune responses could help to increase immune activity in vaccines or suppress immune reactions in autoimmune disease or hyper-inflammatory conditions.

6 Sep 2017

Ketogenic diet prolongs life and improves memory and physical functions in aged mice find researchers

A pair of new studies find that diets termed ketogenic that are classically low in carbohydrates can prolong life in adult male laboratory mice. In addition this ketogenic diet also preserves the memory functions as well as muscle masses of the aged mice that were fed on it. The mechanism behind this could be the fact that ketogenic diet induces protein acetylation in the mice liver and muscles.

5 Sep 2017

Fat may influence cancer development in diverse ways

Adipose tissue, or fat, may influence the development of cancer in diverse ways, depending on the type of fat and the location in the body.

1 Sep 2017

Heat therapy could be promising treatment to help fight against cancer, autoimmune problems

Heat therapy may be a promising treatment in the fight against cancer, autoimmune problems and efforts to avoid organ rejection in transplant patients, according to researchers at the University of Kentucky.

30 Aug 2017

Study shows role of exhausted regulatory T cells in allergic reactions

Researchers have evidence that the specialized T cells responsible for maintaining a balanced immune response are vulnerable to exhaustion that disrupts normal functioning and may even contribute to allergic reactions.

23 Aug 2017

Study findings could one day help doctors better predict survival of liver cancer patients

A new study of a molecule that regulates liver-cell metabolism and suppresses liver-cancer development shows that the molecule interacts with thousands of genes in liver cells, and that when levels of the molecule go down, which often happens during liver-cancer development, the activity of certain cancer-promoting genes goes up.

23 Aug 2017

Scientists show how immune system can be modulated by manipulation of sugar metabolism

In its attempt to fight a serious bacterial infection, caused by listeria, for example, the immune system can become so over-activated that the resulting inflammatory response and its consequences can quickly lead to death.

21 Aug 2017

"Fat switch" may hold the key to obesity finds new study

Scientists have been trying for years now to understand what causes overweight and obesity in some but not in others. Now researchers at the Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute seem to have solved the puzzle that has been baffling them all – a so called “fat switch” in the brain that regulates weight gain. This could also mean a new potential for treatment of obesity in future. The study appeared in the journal Cell Metabolism today.

1 Aug 2017

Consumption of artificial sweeteners alongside low carbohydrate diet increases food intake

Next time you drop an artificial sweetener into your coffee thinking of the weight you'll lose by avoiding sugar, think again.

1 Aug 2017

Timing of food consumption affects circadian rhythms and body weight

A new high-precision feeding system for lab mice reinforces the idea that the time of day food is eaten is more critical to weight loss than the amount of calories ingested.

18 Jul 2017

Loss of smell linked to weight loss in mice despite same food intake, study reveals

Experiments conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that the odor of food has a direct link with how the body processes the calories. The new study conducted on mice published in the first week of July in the journal Cell Metabolism implicates that the ability to detect the smell of food is related to whether the calories are burnt rather than stored.

6 Jul 2017

Sense of smell may play key role in how the body deals with calories

Our sense of smell is key to the enjoyment of food, so it may be no surprise that in experiments at the University of California, Berkeley, obese mice who lost their sense of smell also lost weight.

5 Jul 2017

Anti-asthma drug shows blood glucose improvement among some patients with type 2 diabetes

After 12 weeks of taking an anti-asthma drug, a subset of patients with type 2 diabetes showed a clinically significant reduction in blood glucose during a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, report University of California San Diego School of Medicine and University of Michigan researchers.

5 Jul 2017

American scientists develop bioorthogonal labeling test to assess sialylated glycans in tumor cells

Glycosylated proteins are often overexpressed in tumor cells and thus could serve as tumor markers, especially those with the interesting molecule sialic acid as their sugar moiety.

28 Jun 2017

New approaches to early detection of Parkinson's disease on the horizon

Detecting Parkinson's disease before non-reversible symptoms occur: New approaches to early detection are meant to ensure just that. They are based on detection of alpha-synuclein in the skin or intestines.

24 Jun 2017

Scientists find lack of experimental evidence detailing biologic roles of leptin in metabolism

Discovered more than two decades ago, the hormone leptin has been widely hailed as the key regulator of leanness. Yet, the pivotal experiments that probe the function of this protein and unravel the precise mechanism of its action as a guardian against obesity are largely missing.

24 Jun 2017

New data reveals increase in rate of deaths from Alzheimer's disease

The rate of death from Alzheimer's disease in the United States increased by more than 50 percent in the past 15 years, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

15 Jun 2017

‘Wholesome’ breads may not necessarily be healthiest choice for everyone, study reveals

Bread occupies a unique place in our diet: it accounts for about one-tenth of the calories many people in the West consume and up to 40 percent of the caloric consumption in some non-Western countries – more than any other food product.

9 Jun 2017