Human virus makes fat stem cells fatter

New research has shown how a human adenovirus works to make people fatter. The virus targets stem cells making more of them “convert to pre-fat cells and [also] causes the pre-fat cells to become bigger fat cells.” It looks like this is more evidence for the theory that viruses may play a role in the increasing prevalence of obesity today. This “obesity contagion theory” is discussed in more detail in another article from January 2006 which stated that previous research had found that chickens became fatter after being infected with a human adenovirus.

post edited on October 25, 2006 at 8:12 pm