The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center is proud to recognize FOEDRC faculty member Long-Sheng Song, MD, MS, Professor of Internal Medicine-Cardiovascular Medicine, as the lead author of a groundbreaking clinical trial just published in PNAS. This study examines how brown fat cells maintain the proper balance of calcium, a mineral that serves as an important cellular signal and helps regulate heat production and energy use. The researchers found that a protein called junctophilin-2 (JP2) is particularly abundant in brown fat, which plays an important role in generating heat and helping the body respond to cold. When JP2 levels are reduced, brown fat cells lose their ability to regulate calcium properly: calcium accumulates at baseline, while the cells become less responsive to signals that normally stimulate heat production. This calcium imbalance also disrupts proteins involved in fat breakdown and impairs the structure and function of mitochondria, the cell’s energy-producing machinery. Consequently, animals with reduced JP2 have greater difficulty maintaining body temperature in the cold and are more susceptible to obesity when exposed to a high-fat diet. Overall, these findings identify JP2 as an important regulator of brown fat function and thermogenesis and suggest that disruption of this pathway may contribute to the metabolic dysfunction associated with obesity. 

This work was supported by an FOEDRC Pilot & Feasibility Grant, with continued support from the Department of Veterans Affairs, highlighting the impact of FOEDRC pilot funding in advancing innovative research with potential implications for metabolic health and obesity. The FOEDRC Co-Directors, Drs. Andrew Norris and Kamal Rahmouni, congratulate Dr. Song and his co-authors on this significant achievement. The study’s abstract can be found at this this PubMed link.