Mouse Study Links 1 Gene to Weight Regain After Loss, Keeping Asprosin High for Weeks
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Oct 5
Mouse Study Links 1 Gene to Weight Regain After Loss, Keeping Asprosin High for Weeks
2 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Oct 5
Summary
A mouse study found obesity can leave a lasting mark on FBN1 in fat cells, keeping the hunger hormone asprosin elevated for weeks even after excess weight is lost.
One brief rise in TGF-β1 opened chromatin around the gene and left that switch stuck on, sustaining asprosin output after TGF-β1 itself returned to normal.
High asprosin then drove appetite through the PTPRD receptor on AgRP/NPY hypothalamic neurons; blocking the FBN1-asprosin-PTPRD pathway prevented weight regain in mice and stopped obesity risk from passing to offspring.
GLP-1 drugs may not erase that molecular memory, the researchers said, suggesting durable weight maintenance could require targeting upstream signaling, chromatin state, or asprosin itself.
Human relevance remains unproven, though public datasets support the mechanism and other studies suggest obesity-related cellular memories can persist for 5 to 10 years after weight loss.