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Obesity touches countless lives across the country and can lead to many other health complications. From August 2021 to 2023, the prevalence of obesity in adults in the U.S. was more than 40%. Research published in Science Advances, led by scientists at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that targeting fat cells specifically with inhibitors of the enzyme sphingosine kinase 2 could be a new strategy to combat obesity and lower the risk of its comorbidities like cancer.

"GLP-1s are well established to help reduce body weight. However, they don't work for everyone. And once you stop taking them, the weight may come back," said Christopher Green, Ph.D., study co-author and member of the Cancer Biology research program at Massey.

"So, there is a need to develop additional therapies, and we think that targeting adipocytes with sphingosine kinase 2 inhibitors could be a new strategy to treat people with obesity and affect their susceptibility to developing cancer."

In previous studies, Green and his research team found that whole-body deletion of sphingosine kinase 2 (SPHK2) led to protection from Western diet–induced obesity and fat accumulation in multiple adipose depots, as well as reduced liver cancer in male mice.

After targeting SPHK2 in the adipocytes in these models during this study, they determined that there was a significant reduction in body weight, improved glucose tolerance, improved insulin sensitivity and reduced lipid accumulation in the liver.

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