Scientists Identify Vital Fat-Burning Protein That Could Aid Weight Loss

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Scientists Identify Vital ****-Burning Protein That Could Aid Weight Loss

Scientists are tackling society’s growing

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from all kinds of angles – and new research picks out a particular protein controlling how **** is burned off, which could potentially be a target for weight management drugs.

The protein is the MCJ (Methylation-controlled J) protein, and it was highlighted by a team led by researchers from the Spanish National

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Centre (CNIO). They also found a previously undiscovered mechanism for turning body **** into heat (a process known as

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).

Building on

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between the MCJ protein and metabolism, the new study found more MCJ in tissue samples from obese humans and mice. In mice where MCJ production was blocked, the animals were better at staying thin and burning brown **** (

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) – the type responsible for storing and expending energy.

Mice without MCJ didn’t gain the same weight on a high-**** diet. (Cicuéndez et al., Nature Communications, 2025)

“Our results in humans and mice suggest that the reduction of MCJ observed in patients with obesity appears to act as a compensatory mechanism to enhance brown adipose tissue thermogenesis,”

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the researchers in their published paper.

In other words, lower levels of the MCJ protein mean brown **** gets burned off as heat more quickly, protecting against weight gain. Even transplanting MCJ-free brown **** into mice was enough to cause

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.

As well as identifying the key role played by the MCJ protein, the team also learned more about how brown **** gets used up by the body. Removing MCJ was effective even when another key thermogenesis protein, UCP1, was unmodified or absent – suggesting MCJ is regulating brown **** independently of UCP1.

“For some time, it has been thought that obesity could be prevented by getting this **** to spend more energy by generating heat,”

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Guadalupe Sabio, from CNIO.

“Discovering new mechanisms of heat production in brown **** is one of the most interesting targets in the study of obesity.”

More research will be needed to work out if blocking the MCJ protein could be a safe treatment option for obesity, one which wouldn’t damage the body in other ways – but the early findings reported here are promising.

The researchers are also keen to investigate how their discoveries could lower the risk of health conditions

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too. Carrying extra ****

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all across the body, from heart disease to certain types of cancers.

Future treatments could possibly trigger changes in body **** use that protect health more generally.

“This protection is due to the activation of an essential signaling pathway to adapt to the stress caused by obesity,”

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biochemist Beatriz Cicuéndez, from CNIO.

“Known as the catabolic pathway, it causes an increase in the consumption of fats, sugars and proteins to produce heat in brown ****. It is a mechanism that also happens in people with very active brown ****.”

The research has been published in

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