Blocking Enzyme in Mice Reduces Fat

Blocking a single enzyme leads to increased energy expenditure and loss of body fat -- at least in mice, researchers said.

Mice treated with a compound that blocks the so-called Fyn kinase expended 14% more energy than animals treated with an inert compound, according to Claire Bastie, PhD, and colleagues at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

They also displayed a significant weight loss within 12 hours of receiving the compound, compared with animals given the inert substance, Bastie and colleagues reported in the Feb. 3 issue of Cell Metabolism.

"This is a new mechanism to help the body to burn extra energy," Bastie said in a statement.

The Fyn kinase has previously been linked to energy use: animals with the enzyme blocked burn more fatty acids and are leaner than their normal littermates, Bastie and colleagues noted.

Those animals also had increased insulin sensitivity, the researchers said, but the absence of the enzyme did not block the normal anabolic processes of protein synthesis and muscle growth during the feeding cycle.

The findings suggested that drugs blocking the enzyme might have a significant effect on energy balance and weight, they theorized.