Surrounding tumours with brown fat could starve them of nutrients

1 year ago 74

Health

Tumours in mice had reduced growth after brown fat, which burns sugars and other fuel that tumours need to grow, was implanted nearby. Researchers used CRISPR gene editing to convert white fat, which can be collected via liposuction, into brown fat

By Alice Klein

A scanning electron micrograph of a brown fat cell surrounded by capillaries

Implanting brown fat around cancerous tumours could halve their size as the fat burns the fuel tumours need to grow. Although only tested in mice and human tissue to date, white fat could one day be extracted from people via liposuction and genetically engineered using the CRISPR technique to turn it into brown fat that then starves tumours of nutrients such as sugar.

Brown fat, mainly found in newborn humans and hibernating mammals, burns other fats and sugars …

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