The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a drug that can temporarily raise people’s body temperature.
The process of producing heat in the body is called thermogenesis and it happens in two main ways. “One of them is chills, and we all experience it,” says bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski of Rice University. However, in the process you lose your dexterity and it is really uncomfortable. The other type of thermogenesis involves brown adipose tissue, which can generate heat through a chemical reaction. Fever without shivering happens earlier, but not as efficient as shivering. That’s why it doesn’t cause the fever to rise as much as desired, at least in humans.”
A new drug being developed triggers this second type of fever. It causes sudden fever by using brown adipose tissue. Brown adipose tissue breaks down sugars using a special enzyme, and at the same time, it fires until it starts to tremble.
Unlike white adipose tissue, which is the main source of obesity, brown adipose tissue is much more beneficial and only becomes active in cold weather. It produces fire by using the resources available in the body. If this metabolism can be stimulated with a drug, it could be beneficial for soldiers on the battlefield or those working in search and rescue.
Using modern imaging techniques, the researchers aim to identify suitable candidates among a range of drugs that could do the job. “You first need to understand the biology of the disease or physiological process and then find a region to intervene, such as a protein that you can target with a drug or a process in the cell,” Szablowski says.
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