An article by Dr. Damaris Lorenzo in collaboration with her postdoctoral advisor Dr. Vann Bennett at Duke University titled “Cell-autonomous adiposity through increased cell surface GLUT4 due to ankyrin-B deficiency” was published this week ahead of print in PNAS. In this study, Dr. Lorenzo shows that mice lacking the cytoskeleton-associated protein ankyrin-B only in adipose tissue become obese despite having normal appetite and physical activity levels. Using cellular essays, the study also shows that novel human mutations in the ankyrin-B gene also leads to cell-autonomous adiposity.

Cell-autonomous adiposity through increased cell surface GLUT4 due to ankyrin-B deficiency