Study investigates biological pathways involved in inflammatory response to stress

A recent paper by Broad associate member Gökhan Hotamisligil, first author Takahisa Nakamura of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues identifies components of a pathway— including a complex between double-stranded RNA-dependent kinase (PKR) and TAR RNA-binding protein (TRBP)—that integrates metabolic cues, stress signals, translational regulation, and the metabolically driven inflammatory response in obesity-related pathogenesis. These findings uncover a potential link between RNA metabolism and endogenous dsRNA-mediated signaling in the initiation and maintenance of a metabolic inflammatory state and provide potential targets for the treatment of chronic stress-related diseases including obesity-induced metabolic diseases. Their paper can be found online in Cell Reports.