Austrian scientists curb obesity in mice by modifying ‘hedgehog’ gene

"Scientists from Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) and Institute of Molecular Pathology at Austria's University of Salzburg have discovered that gene therapy can play a notable role in slowing down the formation of unwanted fat in the body, by suppressing the growth of white fat cells.

Noting that the intervention effect of gene on fat formation was too substantial to be overlooked, the molecular biologists said in the new study, published in the US scientific journal Cell, that experiments with mice have revealed that the modification of a certain gene - 'Hedgehog' - helped raise very lean, but otherwise healthy, animals that developed almost no white fat cells.

Since the white fat cells serve chiefly in storage of body fat, the Austrian scientists, together with the scientists from University of Toronto, Canada, were able to curb the growth of white fat by purposefully stimulating the 'hedgehog' gene in the mice experiments.

With the therapy having successfully cut down obesity in mice, by unlocking the genetic mechanism, the researchers are of the opinion that their research will have 'a very impressive prospect for medical applications.'"