Clinical trial results of irisin

Bruce Spiegelman, a professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, has cracked the secret of the relationship between exercise and health. The secret, he said, lies in a kind of protein called irisin. After exercise, the level of irisin in human body rises.

He experimented with mice that didn't exercise very often. These mice are overweight and have prediabetic symptoms. Pigman found that these mice were injected with irisin, and the gene for converting white fat into brown fat was activated.

"We are very excited to find a natural substance related to exercise, and it has obvious therapeutic potential," said Pontus Bohstrom, a postdoctoral fellow in Pigman.

The researchers said that the results of this study provided the possibility for manufacturing a "sports pill" with irisin as the main ingredient. Clinical trials are expected to begin within two years.

Pontus Bostro m, Wu Jun, Bruce M. Spiegelman et al., a PGC 1-a-dependent actin, drives the brown fatty development and thermogenesis of white fat. Nature (2012) doi:10.1038/nature 10777.

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