Scientists Identify Molecular Switch in Brown Fat That Could Treat Bone Disease

Hypophosphatasia patients experience fractures, pain, and skeletal deformities; the disorder is more prevalent in certain Canadian regions including Quebec and Manitoba.

In the quiet interior of brown fat cells, scientists at McGill University have uncovered a molecular switch — a binding site where glycerol meets an enzyme called TNAP — that activates a hidden heat-producing system the body uses to stay warm. The discovery, published in Nature, is one of those rare findings that answers one question while opening an entirely different door: the same enzyme governs bone mineralization, meaning this switch may hold the key to treating hypophosphatasia, a rare disorder that leaves bones fragile and lives shadowed by fracture. What began as a search for how the b

Scientists Identify Molecular Switch in Brown Fat That Could Treat Bone Disease

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