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Promoting brown and beige adipocyte biogenesis through the PRDM16 pathway

International Journal of Obesity Supplements volume 5, pages S11–S14 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Obesity develops from a chronic energy imbalance in which energy intake exceeds energy expenditure. As brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy and produces heat, increasing energy expenditure via BAT thermogenesis may constitute a novel therapeutic intervention for the treatment of obesity and obesity-related diseases. Studies over the past few years have identified key regulatory molecules of brown and beige adipocyte biogenesis, including a dominant transcriptional co-regulator PRDM16 (PR domain containing 16) and its co-factors, which allows for engineering functional BAT by genetic approaches. A next step toward the goal of promoting BAT thermogenesis by pharmacological approaches necessitates a better understanding of the enzymatic components and signaling pathways for brown and beige adipocyte development. This review covers recent advances regarding this topic, with a special emphasis on the PRDM16 transcriptional pathway.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Kathleen Jay for editorial assistance. The present study was supported by NIH grants DK087853 and DK97441 to SK. SK also acknowledges support from the DERC center grant (DK63720), UCSF PBBR program, the Pew Charitable Trust and PRESTO from Japan Science and Technology Agency. SK has received grant support from Novo Nordisk, and holds related patents No. WO/2010/080985 and No. WO/2011/091134.

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This article is published as part of a supplement sponsored by the Université Laval’s Research Chair in Obesity, in an effort to inform the public on the causes, consequences, treatments and prevention of obesity.

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  1. Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, UCSF Diabetes Center, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    S Kajimura

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Correspondence to S Kajimura.

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Kajimura, S. Promoting brown and beige adipocyte biogenesis through the PRDM16 pathway. Int J Obes Supp 5 (Suppl 1), S11–S14 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijosup.2015.4

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