http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=irisin
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/va ... 10777.html
http://scienceblog.com/51556/scientists ... rn-energy/
Nature. 2012 Jan 11. doi: 10.1038/nature10777. [Epub ahead of print]The scientists said their findings merely scratch the surface of irisin’s multiple effects. They are continuing to explore the hormone’s possible benefits in metabolic diseases like diabetes, insulin resistance, and obesity, which constitute a growing epidemic around the world, as well as neurodegenerative illnesses like Parkinson’s disease.
Spiegelman added that as growing evidence implicates obesity and physical inactivity in cancer development, it’s conceivable irisin-based drugs may have value in prevention and treatment of the disease.
A PGC1-α-dependent myokine that drives brown-fat-like development of white fat and thermogenesis.
Boström P, Wu J, Jedrychowski MP, Korde A, Ye L, Lo JC, Rasbach KA, Boström EA, Choi JH, Long JZ, Kajimura S, Zingaretti MC, Vind BF, Tu H, Cinti S, Højlund K, Gygi SP, Spiegelman BM.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, 3 Blackfan Circle, CLS Building, Floor 11, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Abstract
Exercise benefits a variety of organ systems in mammals, and some of the best-recognized effects of exercise on muscle are mediated by the transcriptional co-activator PPAR-γ co-activator-1 α (PGC1-α). Here we show in mouse that PGC1-α expression in muscle stimulates an increase in expression of FNDC5, a membrane protein that is cleaved and secreted as a newly identified hormone, irisin. Irisin acts on white adipose cells in culture and in vivo to stimulate UCP1 expression and a broad program of brown-fat-like development. Irisin is induced with exercise in mice and humans, and mildly increased irisin levels in the blood cause an increase in energy expenditure in mice with no changes in movement or food intake. This results in improvements in obesity and glucose homeostasis. Irisin could be therapeutic for human metabolic disease and other disorders that are improved with exercise.
PMID:
22237023
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Of course, there is no substitute for a proper diet and exercise when possible.