Fat tissue is an important endocrine organ as well as being a place to store energy. Too much fat is bad but so is too little fat. Research from this lab has found that immature fat cells need a protein called CD24 in order to develop into mature fat cells properly. Without CD24, the fat cells are still present but are smaller than normal. In addition, blood glucose levels are higher in mice lacking CD24. This suggests that CD24 is important for normal, healthy fat tissue development and regulation of blood glucose levels.

Next up: How does CD24 regulate this process? Can we take advantage of these observations to improve the health of obese or severely underweight people?

Funding for this project has been from CIHR and RDC with student support from MUN.

Smith, NC, Fairbridge, NA, and Christian, SL* (2015) Dynamic upregulation of CD24 in pre-adipocytes promotes adipogenesis. Adipocyte. 4(2):89-100

Fairbridge NA, Southall TM, Ayre DC, Komatsu Y, Raquet PI, Brown RJ, Randell E, Kovacs CS, and Christian SL*. (2015) Loss of CD24 in Mice Leads to Metabolic Dysfunctions and a Reduction in White Adipocyte Tissue. PLoS ONE 10(11): e0141966.