Influences of "Fat Controller” Protein Discovered

Scottish researchers have uncovered key links between cystic fibrosis (CF) and cancer, diabetes, and obesity, findings that may lead to new areas of research and new treatments.

The latest research centers on the role in the body of a newly discovered hybrid protein called the cellular "fat controller,” according to Dr. Anil Mehta, of the University of Dundee (Scotland). Dr. Mehta has worked in cystic fibrosis research for 20 years, and heads the European Union-funded Cystic Fibrosis Database based at the University of Dundee. Dr. Mehta and his team have uncovered genetic pathways that lead through this fat controller and form links between cystic fibrosis and the other conditions.

It has long been known that cystic fibrosis patients suffer significant variations in weight--they tend to be very thin and can suffer very fast weight loss when they fall ill--but we did not know why this was the case, said Dr. Mehta, a Reader in Child Health in the Department of Maternal and Child Health Sciences at the University of Dundee.

Similarly it has been known that CF patients suffer a higher rate of cancer than normal and again we did not know why. In equal measure, almost half of these patients develop an unusual form of diabetes. What our research has uncovered are the genetic links, through this cellular fat controller, that we believe lead to these differences in fat metabolism and cancer. Furthermore, there are also significant links here to diabetes.

Dr. Mehta's team examined the relationship between three cancer-related enzymes that are associated with diabetes (NDPK), fat metabolism (AMPK) and cystic fibrosis (CFTR). They found a new pathway between NDPK and AMPK that leads to variations in fat metabolism. Additional research found that these enzymes also bind to a protein that causes cystic fibrosis. The research team included international collaborators in Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, and the United States. The findings were reported in the August 2006 issue of Molecular & Cellular Biology.

In order to further debate and create greater cross-disciplinary collaboration in this area of research, Dundee University has agreed to support Dr. Mehta's efforts to host a major international conference of experts in NDPK, AMPK and CFTR in Dundee in September 2007.



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