Scientists are "master switch" genes for obesity

London - scientists have found that a gene linked to diabetes and cholesterol is a "master switch" which should help controls other genes found in fat in the body and say in the search for treatments for obesity-related diseases.

In a study published in the journal Nature Genetics, the British researchers said that, because fat plays an important role in the susceptibility of people to metabolic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the regulator gene may be target for drugs to treat these diseases.

"This is the first major study that shows how small changes in a single master regulator gene can cause a cascade of other metabolic effects in other genes," said Tim Spector of College London of the King, who led the study.

More than half a billion people, or of 1 in 10 adults worldwide are obese and the numbers have doubled since the 1980s as the obesity epidemic overflowed rich in poor countries.

In the United States, obesity-related diseases already represent about 10% of medical expenses--147 billion more per year.

Type 2 diabetes, which is often linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, is reaching epidemic levels in the world as the rate of increase of obesity.

Scientists have already identified a gene called KLF14 as being related to 2 levels of cholesterol and diabetes type, but until now, they knew what role he played.

Spector team analyzed more than 20,000 genes in fat samples under the British 800 volunteers female twin skin. They found a link between the KLF14 gene and the levels of many other genes in adipose tissue, showing that KLF14 acts as a master switch to control these genes.

Then, they confirmed their conclusions 600 fat samples of a distinct group of people in the Iceland.

In a report of their study, the researchers explained that other genes were to be controlled by KLF14 are linked to a range of metabolic traits, including body mass index, obesity, cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels.

"KLF14 appears to act as a general switch, control processes that connect changes in the behaviour of subcutaneous fat of disturbances in the muscles and the liver that contribute to diabetes and other conditions," said Mark McCarthy, of the University of Oxford of Britainwho also worked on the study.

"We are working hard... to understand these processes and how we use this information to improve the treatment of these conditions."

Scientists identify the possible human lung cell

NEW YORK - scientists believe they discovered stem cells in the lung that can make a wide variety of tissues of the organ, a finding that could open new doors for the treatment of emphysema and other diseases.

When these human cells were injected into mice, they showed their versatility by rebuilding airways, air bags and the blood vessels within two weeks. An expert called as "amazing".

While stem cells have been found in the bone marrow and other parts of the body, it was not clear whether such a versatile cell existed in the lungs.

Experts not involved in the study stressed that the work must be confirmed by other research and that it is too early to make promises on therapies. But they said that this could be a significant advance in a difficult area of research.

"These are remarkable results and they have extraordinary implications, said Dr. Alan Fine, Boston University, who called the amazing results mouse." But it must be replicated. ?

Stem cells can produce a wide variety of specialized cell types. Scientists are trying to exploit as repair kits to repair the damage caused by diseases such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes. Most people have heard speak of embryonic stem cells, which caused controversy because embryos must be destroyed to recover.

However, the new cell of lung would be an "adult" stem cell, as others have found in the body. Adult stem cells maintain and repair the tissues where they are found. Bone marrow cells, for example, give rise to different types of blood cells, and have been used for years of transplants to treat leukemia and other blood diseases.

The work of lung is reported in issue of the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday by the Drs Piero Anversa and Joseph Loscalzo and his colleagues Brigham and women's Hospital in Boston. In a telephone interview, Anversa said that it is not clear of what lung stem cells normally done but he thinks that he is involved in the replacement of other lung cells lost life.

Loscalzo said that it is too early to say what lung diseases could be treated one day cells. He said at the outset, researchers are studying high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, called pulmonary hypertension and emphysema. Emphysema is a progressive disease that destroys the key parts of the lung, leaving of large cavities that interfere with the function of the lung.

Anversa said that cells can also be useful to accumulate the lungs after surgery for lung cancer. It is not clear if they could be used in the treatment of asthma, said he.

Although theoretically the strain lung cell could be used to cultivate a lung in a laboratory for transplantation, Loscalzo said it would be very difficult because the lung is so complex. Instead, he said, scientists will be first examine isolate cells from a patient, their multiplication in the laboratory and then by injecting their return into the lungs of the patient.

The mouse experiments showed "cells are more intelligent that we are", able to build structures of normal lung in an injured lung, he said.

The researchers found cell samples from surgical made a donation of adult tissues. The same cells appeared in tissue was donated by nine fetuses that died, give evidence that cells are present before birth and may participate in the development of the lung. To study the behavior of cells, researchers injured lungs of mice and then injected six doses of about 20 000 cells each.

In the 10 to 14 days, injected cells had formed airways, blood vessels and air bags. "We had a very large amount of regeneration" involving millions of new cells, Anversa said.

New tissues showed a "seamless" connection to the rest of the lung, and researchers believe that it would work, which has not been tested, said Loscalzo. The results appear in all 29 tested mice.

Dr. Brigitte Gomperts offshore Stem Cell Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles, said scientific have been hotly debating whether a unique type of stem cells might give rise to more than 40 cell types in the cells of lung _ who are such different jobs to protect the body of inhaled germs and oxygen for carbon dioxide exchange of. It is technically difficult to investigate, said Gomperts, who was not involved in the work again.

If the new results can be confirmed, "this is a significant step forward" that will help understand normal and abnormal lung repair relief found in the disease, she said.