Turning up the heat: BMPs and the control of brown adipogenesis and energy expenditure
Turning up the heat: BMPs and the control of brown adipogenesis and energy expenditure is a Research Project for the Research Group, under the Turning up the heat: BMPs and the control of brown adipogenesis and energy expenditure.
Project Leader
The pathological accumulation of dysfunctional adipose tissue that characterises obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and various types of cancer. Obesity is caused by a fundamental energy imbalance, where energy intake from food chronically exceeds energy expended by physical activity and metabolic processes. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy as heat and its therapeutic expansion/activation represents an opportunity to increase energy expenditure and counteract weight gain. Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) and BMP8B, members of the TGF-b family, are central to the production and function of BAT in mice. Promoting BMP signalling may activate functional brown adipogenesis and thermogenesis and, thereby, protect against obesity.
