Publications by authors named "E Lefai"

Hibernating brown bears, due to a drastic reduction in metabolic rate, show only moderate muscle wasting. Here, we evaluate if ATPase activity of resting skeletal muscle myosin can contribute to this energy sparing. By analyzing single muscle fibers taken from the same bears, either during hibernation or in summer, we find that fibers from hibernating bears have a mild decline in force production and a significant reduction in ATPase activity.

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Hibernating mammals experience severe hemodynamic changes over the torpor-arousal cycle, with oxygen consumption reaching peaks during the early stage of torpor to re-enter arousal. Melatonin (MT) can improve mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. However, the regulatory mechanisms of MT action on the vascular protective function of hibernators are still unclear.

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Besides its beneficial effect on weight loss, gastric bypass surgery (GBS) may impact the circulating levels of phospho- and sphingolipids. However, long-term effects have not been explored. To investigate alterations in lipidomic signatures associated with massive weight loss following GBS, we conducted direct infusion tandem mass spectrometry on serum and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) samples collected in a longitudinal cohort of morbid obese patients prior to GBS and 1 year following the surgery.

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Antipsychotic drugs have been shown to have antitumor effects but have had limited potency in the clinic. Here, we unveil that pimozide inhibits lysosome hydrolytic function to suppress fatty acid and cholesterol release in glioblastoma (GBM), the most lethal brain tumor. Unexpectedly, GBM develops resistance to pimozide by boosting glutamine consumption and lipogenesis.

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SCAP plays a central role in controlling lipid homeostasis by activating SREBP-1, a master transcription factor in controlling fatty acid (FA) synthesis. However, how SCAP expression is regulated in human cancer cells remains unknown. Here, we revealed that STAT3 binds to the promoter of SCAP to activate its expression across multiple cancer cell types.

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