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Death by lipids: The role of small nucleolar RNAs in metabolic stress

Jean E Schaffer1

  • 1Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA jean.schaffer@joslin.harvard.edu.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry
|May 13, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Excess fatty acids harm nonfat tissues, causing cell damage linked to diseases. Disrupting small nucleolar RNAs protects cells from this fatty acid damage and alters metabolism, offering new therapeutic targets.

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Excess fatty acid accumulation in non-fatty tissues causes cell dysfunction and death, contributing to various human diseases.
  • Lipotoxicity research offers insights into lipid homeostasis regulation and molecular pathways of lipid-induced cellular stress.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of specific small nucleolar RNAs in lipotoxicity.
  • To explore the potential of targeting these RNAs for therapeutic interventions in metabolic diseases.

Main Methods:

  • Investigated the impact of disrupting specific small nucleolar RNAs on fatty acid-induced cell death.
  • Analyzed metabolic changes in vivo following the disruption of these RNAs.

Main Results:

  • Disruption of specific small nucleolar RNAs was found to protect cells against fatty acid-induced death.
  • This disruption also led to significant remodeling of metabolism in vivo.

Conclusions:

  • Specific small nucleolar RNAs play a critical role in regulating cellular responses to excess fatty acids.
  • Targeting these RNAs presents a novel therapeutic strategy for managing lipotoxicity and related metabolic disorders.
Keywords:
RNAdiabetesdiabetes complicationsfatty acidgenetic screenslipotoxicitynoncoding RNAnoncoding RNAssnoRNAstriacylglycerol

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