Molecular perspectives on short-term fasting as a nutritional strategy against aging-related diseases
Pablo José Fernández Marcos
IMDEA Food Institute, [Madrid]
Short-term fasting is a safe, simple and inexpensive nutritional intervention that improves several health conditions in humans and mice, as cardiovascular disorders, obesity, insulin resistance and/or diabetes, neurodegenerative processes, ischemia damage, autoimmune diseases or cancer. In this talk, I will describe novel mechanisms that are activated with short-term fasting in humans, such as changes in circulating miRNAs, gene expression in blood cells or membrane fatty acid composition; and how these changes are coordinated with each other. In a second part, I will show our search for new fasting-mimetic products with beneficial effects on obesity and diabetes, focusing on PI3K inhibitors and mitochondrial boosters, showing very promising preclinical effects with two lead compounds.