This cytokine can increase the production of "beige fat"

On August 5th, Zhonghan Yang of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, and his colleagues published a new study in the open-access journal PLOS Biology , showing that immune signals promote the production of energy-burning “beige fat”

The beige color of beige fat comes from its high concentration of mitochondria, which is the power of cells

Babies are born with "brown fat", a similar tissue that is concentrated in the shoulder area to help them keep warm, but brown fat will gradually disappear with age

Recent work, including the work of the authors of this new study, reveals that cytokines-immune system signaling molecules-play a role in regulating beige fat

Finally, the authors pointed out that the administration of IL-25 to mice that eat high-fat food can prevent them from becoming obese and improve their ability to maintain the insulin response, which is impaired in chronic obesity

"Our results show that interleukin-25 plays a key role in the production of beige fat," Yang said, "and pointed out that increasing interleukin-25 signaling is a potential treatment for obesity

Lingyi Li, Lei Ma, Zewei Zhao, Shiya Luo, Baoyong Gong, Jin Li, Juan Feng, Hui Zhang, Weiwei Qi, Ti Zhou, Xia Yang, Guoquan Gao, Zhonghan Yang.