Professor Nils-Göran Larsson’s research group at Karolinska Institutet has recently developed highly specific drug candidates that block mitochondrial function, and thus cellular energy production, to treat cancer. Now the researchers have shown that these drugs also have a beneficial effect on metabolism in mice.
“Four weeks of treatment led to an unexpected increase in fat metabolism, resulting in a drastic weight loss, a reduction in fat accumulation in the liver and restored glucose tolerance,”
“We now aim to further investigate the mechanisms that can explain the drugs’ effect. We have also initiated a collaboration with a biotech company to see if this can be further developed into a treatment for humans. Still, it will be many years before we know if it works,” he concludes.
