An enzyme called SCD1 has tantalized biotechs with the possibility of treating everything from liver disease to cancer. But new research may finally offer a way to confer the benefits of this potential therapy avenue without the associated serious side effects.
SCD1 converts saturated fatty acids into unsaturated ones, a process that is usually helpful to the body but can become dangerous if done excessively. SCD1 is also involved in the regulation of stress reactions in cells—a process that can restore a cell malfunctioning due to disease or infection.
The connection between SCD1 and inflammation, metabolic diseases and cancer is nothing new. However, as the full functional scope of this enzyme is still unknown, the risk of severe side effects for this mode of treatment means no SCD1 inhibitors have yet managed to make it to market.
Now, an international consortium of research groups led by Andreas Koeberle, Ph.D., from the Michael Popp Institute at the University of Innsbruck in Austria may have found a solution. The researchers’ big breakthrough involved tracing the stress response-inhibiting effect of SCD1 back to a lipid dubbed PI(18:1/18:1), which is largely composed of a fatty acid produced by SCD1.
Creating a therapy that either administers or inhibits this lipid could offer a new way to fight the same diseases as an SCD1 drug without disrupting the full range of that enzyme’s functions, the researchers said in a study published May 27 in the journal Nature Communications.
"What is particularly interesting is that stress-associated processes, such as the ageing process, resistance to chemotherapy or the development of tumors all influence the amount of PI(18:1/18:1) in the affected tissues. There is a clear connection that opens up new therapeutic approaches," Koeberle said in a statement.
But before any biotechs go in guns blazing to put this theory into therapeutic practice, the researchers cautioned that the full range of the lipid’s functions need to be thoroughly researched and understood.
"We have deciphered a very fundamental process with this study," Koeberle said. "It’s a significant starting point and sets new directions for further research."