How Do Ketones Affect Health and Disease?
Zhipeng Wang, Ph.D., from Desai Sethi Urology Institute, is garnering global attention for research offering new insights into how ketogenic states affect cancer and aging.
Zhipeng Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of urology at Desai Sethi Urology Institute (DSUI), part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is wasting no time making his mark in impactful research.
Less than a year since starting his lab at DSUI, Dr. Wang’s study uncovering a previously unrecognized form of protein modification, cysteine crotonation (Ccr), and its previously unknown metabolic origin from ketogenesis was published on bioRxiv.
Advancing the Understanding of Ketone Metabolism
“Cysteine crotonation is driven by ketone metabolism,” Dr. Wang said. “Ketogenesis, which occurs during fasting, disease states or ketogenic diets, is traditionally viewed as an alternative metabolic fuel. While most ketone-related epigenetic research has focused on lysine modifications, this work reveals that ketone bodies can also modify cysteine residues, expanding the chemical space of post-translational modifications and uncovering new layers of biological regulation.”
The findings suggest that ketone metabolism does more than provide fuel. It actively rewires cellular signaling by inducing cysteine crotonation.
“This uncovers an alternative mechanism by which ketone bodies may influence mitochondrial redox regulation and protein function, offering new insight into how ketogenic states affect health and disease, including cancer and aging,” Dr. Wang said.
Dr. Wang and his research team are finalizing the study for peer-reviewed journal submission.
Changing the Way We Think About Cancer Cells
bioRxiv is a respected, global archive and distribution service in the life sciences. Though Dr. Wang’s preprint is not yet peer reviewed, its inclusion on biRxiv is proof that his lab is making exciting discoveries, according to DSUI Scientific Director Nima Sharifi, M.D.
“This work illustrates the type of fundamental discoveries that are being made in the laboratory of Dr. Wang, who is a leading-edge chemist,” said Dr. Sharifi. “This work changes how we think about the ways in which ketones can regulate prostate cancer cells.”
“This preprint reflects the collaborative effort of our team—also thanks to DSUI and Dr. Sharifi’s group for support—and marks the beginning of our contributions to uncovering new metabolic regulatory mechanisms,” Dr. Wang added.
Dr. Wang plans to identify the functional impact of cysteine crotonation on key mitochondrial enzymes and explore whether modulating ketone metabolism can therapeutically reprogram redox balance in cancer models.
Tags: aging, Aging Research, cancer research, Desai Sethi Urology Institute, Dr. Zhipeng Wang