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A gene primarily active in fat and muscles could make a person more susceptible to anorexia nervosa, a deadly eating disorder with one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disease.

For years, scientists have known genetics play a role in anorexia, but the biological pathways that make some people more susceptible remained a mystery. Now, a Michigan State University–supported study has identified a surprising new candidate.

The research team found that patients with anorexia were nearly four times as likely as a reference population to carry rare, potentially damaging variants of PLIN4, a gene mostly active in fat and muscle rather than the brain. The gene regulates how cells store fat, raising the possibility that altered fat metabolism could contribute to anorexia in some patients.

This finding, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, opens up a new area for research and new opportunities for developing treatments.

While much anorexia research has focused on the brain and behavior, PLIN4 points researchers toward another potential piece of the disease: how the body stores and uses energy.

J. Robison, an MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professor of physiology who advised the study.

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