CRCHUM, Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal –

Evaluating the therapeutic potential of 14-3-3ζ for the treatment of obesity

Approximately 25% of Canadians are either overweight or obese. Current therapies have only modest success in reducing body weight, and surprisingly, none directly target fat cells, which are key in the development of obesity.

Fat cells require a complex roadmap of signals to grow. How these signals are coordinated is not known, but molecular scaffold proteins could be the key players. In previous work, Dr Lim and colleagues discovered essential roles of the 14-3-3zeta scaffold protein in the growth of fat cells, which raises the possibility of targeting 14-3-3zeta to treat obesity.

In this project, Dr Lim and his research group will try to understand further what 14-3-3zeta does in a fat cell, and will test if reducing the function of 14-3-3zeta in fat cells can prevent the development of obesity.