Scientists at Yale University were trying to breed a group of mice with morbid obesity. However, in doing so they edited two genes that, in turn, seemed to protect mice from weight gain, despite consuming a high-fat diet.
The team of experts, led by cardiology professor Anne Eichmann and associate research scientist Feng Zang, made many adjustments in the genetic makeup of their lab mice to make them gain weight.
But as weeks passed and the rodents maintained their initial weight, the scientists decided to stop the experiment and investigate. They discovered that two genes in particular had caused a unique and crucial change in the intestine: it had crushed certain ‘portals’ of lymphatic capillaries, called ‘lacteal’.
These ‘portals’ act as the gateway for lipids (fatty acids) that pass into the bloodstream to provide energy or are stored as fat, according to the study published in the journal Nature. Until now, however, it was not clear how crucial they were and it was not known that closing the ‘lacteals’ could prevent weight gain altogether.
The experiment opened the way to a completely different perspective: could the same thing be done in humans? The answer from the scientists is no, for obvious ethical reasons. But instead of editing our genes, there could be, according to them, a way to inhibit certain receptors to trigger the same effect in ‘lacteal’.
The experts even found that there is already a drug that has that effect. In addition, it is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat glaucoma, the main cause of blindness.
The drug inhibits the ROCK kinase, a set of molecules that can control the ‘lacteal’. Eichmann said the next step could be to monitor patients taking this medication to see how it affects lipid absorption and weight gain in humans.
