Obesity: an epigenetic track to fight against weight gain and hypercholesterolemia

The number of obesity cases has doubled since 1980: in 2014, over 600 million adults were affected across the world. The causes of this epidemic include unbalanced diet, as well as environmental and genetic factors. French INRA researchers, in association with colleagues from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, CNRS and the University of Cambridge (UK), reveal that an epigenetic factor, the BAHD1 protein, participates in the regulatory mechanisms of cholesterol levels and weight gain. These results published on March 3rd 2016 in the journal PLoS Genetics could open new ways for finding therapies against obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

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