Experimental Treatment Uses Engineered Fat Cells to “Starve” Tumors: Researchers genetically engineered fat cells to aggressively consume nutrients. When implanted near tumors in mice, the tumors grew more slowly, and worked even when the engineered fat cells were implanted far from a tumor.

Experimental Treatment Uses Engineered Fat Cells to “Starve” Tumors

Scientists have long been exploring ways to kill cancer cells by starving them of the nutrients they need to survive. A new study suggests that genetically modified fat cells could help researchers realize this goal.

In the study, researchers genetically engineered white fat cells—the most common type of fat in the body—to aggressively consume nutrients such as glucose and fatty acids. When the engineered fat cells were implanted near tumors in mice, the tumors grew more slowly than tumors in mice without the engineered cellsExit Disclaimer.

The approach slowed the growth of cancer in mice even when the engineered fat cells were implanted far from a tumor, the researchers reported in Nature Biotechnology on February 4.