New therapeutic avenues for obesity

Newly discovered mechanisms lay the foundation for a new therapeutic avenues that one day may be beneficial in treating diseases, ranging from muscle weakness and frailty to obesity and diabetes. Researchers from EPFL published a study which highlight on the roles of a nuclear receptor co-repressor, NCoR1. Very little is known about how co-repressors, which inhibit gene transcription function and hence brake gene expression, work in the animal. In two independent studies now investigators address the function of the co-repressor NCoR1 in two different tissues, muscle and fat tissue. Interestingly, the absence of NCoR1 in muscle or adipose tissue leads to improved function of both tissues. In the muscle the absence of NCoR1 leads to increased muscle mass, as you would expect if you omit an inhibitory factor. Interestingly, NCoR1 not only inhibits muscle mass but also seems to inhibit muscle function.