Cell Metabolism News and Research

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Improving body clock could protect against metabolic syndrome

Essential biological processes are managed by an internal timer or body clock. When the body clock gets out of whack, conditions such as metabolic syndrome can occur.

15 Apr 2016

High levels of COMP protein may lead to worse breast cancer prognosis

Research from Lund University in Sweden shows that the protein COMP, which mainly exists in cartilage, can also be found in breast cancer tumours in patients with a poor prognosis. Studies on mice also showed that COMP contributed to the development and metastasis of the breast cancer.

13 Apr 2016

Mouse-based study shows exercise decreases cancer incidence, slows tumor growth

When you're pounding along an icy pavement or sweating through a gym workout, you try to remind yourself of the many health benefits of exercise. Between gasps, you can say that a healthy, fit lifestyle helps prevents obesity, a worldwide problem of increasing magnitude that has been linked to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

11 Apr 2016

Joslin scientists identify new mechanism in development of obesity-induced insulin resistance

In obesity, the body's immune system can treat tissues as if they are suffering from a low-grade chronic infection. This obesity-induced inflammation is an important contributor to insulin resistance, a condition that can progress into type 2 diabetes.

2 Apr 2016

Neutralizing acidic tumor environment increases efficacy of immune-targeting cancer therapies

Cancer cells have the ability to grow in an acidic tumor environment that is detrimental to other cells, including immune cells. In a Cancer Research cover article published this week, Moffitt Cancer Center reported that neutralizing the acidic tumor environment increases the efficacy of several immune-targeting cancer therapies.

19 Mar 2016

Inhibiting cholesterol esterification can potentiate antitumor activity of killer T cells

As key players in the immune system, T cells provide tumor surveillance and have direct antitumor effects. However, tumors can escape T-cell attack through various mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment. Reactivating the antitumor effects of T cells has shown great clinical benefits in treating various cancers.

18 Mar 2016

Brown fat may help to keep blood sugar steady in adults

Australian scientists have shown that brown fat - a special type of fat that burns energy to produce heat - may also help to keep blood sugar steady in adults.

10 Mar 2016

Research findings offer new way to look at cancer cell metabolism

Cancer cells are notorious for their ability to divide uncontrollably and generate hordes of new tumor cells. Most of the fuel consumed by these rapidly proliferating cells is glucose, a type of sugar.

8 Mar 2016

Inhibition of mitochondrial calcium uptake specifically toxic to cancer cells

Inhibiting the transfer of calcium ions into the cell's powerhouse is specifically toxic to cancer cells, according to an article published this week in Cell Reports by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

4 Mar 2016

Rockefeller research reveals vital new component of system responsible for regulating food intake

The molecular intricacies of hunger and satiety, pivotal for understanding metabolic disorders and the problem of obesity, are not yet fully understood by scientists. However, new research from The Rockefeller University reveals an important new component of the system responsible for regulating food intake: a hormone called amylin, which acts in the brain to help control consumption.

27 Feb 2016

Losing just 5% of weight has significant health benefits for patients with obesity

For patients with obesity trying to lose weight, the greatest health benefits come from losing just 5 percent of their body weight, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

23 Feb 2016

Intestinal microbiota necessary for optimum postnatal growth

The intestinal microbiota is necessary to ensure optimum postnatal growth and contributes to determining the size of adult individuals, notably in the event of undernutrition.

22 Feb 2016

Kellogg investigators develop new nanotechnology that has potential to kill tumor cells in the eye

Researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center have developed a new nanoparticle that uses a tumor cell's protective mechanism against itself -- short-circuiting tumor cell metabolism and killing tumor cells.

19 Feb 2016

KU Leuven scientists improve survival of implanted bone cells

To treat a complicated, non-healing bone defect, surgeons often use an implant with living cells to promote bone repair, but the implanted cells have a small chance of surviving because they are not prepared for a lack of oxygen and nutrients at the fracture site.

19 Feb 2016

Pioglitazone drug may prevent recurrent stroke and heart attacks

Pioglitazone, a drug used for type 2 diabetes, may prevent recurrent stroke and heart attacks in people with insulin resistance but without diabetes.

18 Feb 2016

Study identifies FGF21 protein as potential therapeutic agent for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes

New research on the blood lipid-lowering protein FGF21 shows how it redistributes fatty acids by two distinct mechanisms. The discovery could lead to improved pharmaceutical treatment for type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related diseases.

11 Feb 2016

Barley can help reduce blood sugar levels and diabetes risk

A recent study from Lund University in Sweden shows that barley can rapidly improve people's health by reducing blood sugar levels and risk for diabetes. The secret lies in the special mixture of dietary fibres found in barley, which can also help reduce people's appetite and risk for cardiovascular disease.

10 Feb 2016

UT Southwestern researchers reveal how CDK4/6-inhibitors alter pancreatic cancer cell metabolism

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found that cancer drugs known as CDK4/6-inhibitors alter the metabolism of pancreatic cancer cells, revealing a biologic vulnerability that could be exploited for therapeutic gain.

22 Jan 2016

Estrogen helps women fight flu virus better than men

Estrogen dramatically reduced the amount of flu virus that replicated in infected cells from women but not from men, a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows.

20 Jan 2016

New discovery may help researchers tackle mitochondrial diseases and age-related diseases

Buck Institute faculty Judith Campisi, PhD, says age researchers need to stop thinking of cellular senescence, now accepted as an important driver of aging, as a single phenotype that stems from genotoxic stress. Research from her lab reveals that cellular senescence, a process whereby cells permanently lose the ability to divide, is also induced by signaling from dysfunctional mitochondria - and that the arrested cells secrete a distinctly different "stew" of biologically active factors in a process unrelated to the damaging free radicals that are created in mitochondria as part of oxygen metabolism.

13 Jan 2016