DGAT out of the bag

U.S. and French researchers have shown that DGAT1, an enzyme involved in lipid droplet biogenesis, is a host factor for HCV infection.¹ The results have prompted Via Pharmaceuticals Inc.to consider repurposing its DGAT1 inhibitors, which are in preclinical development for metabolic indications.

The findings have their roots in office location and serendipity. Lead principal investigators Melanie Ott, associate investigator at the University of California, San Francisco's Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, and Robert Farese Jr., senior investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, had nearby offices and saw a chance to work together on something that required their respective areas of expertise: virology and cellular lipid metabolism...