This enzyme belongs to the family of transferases, specifically those transferring one-carbon group methyltransferases.
NNMT affects a biochemical mechanism known as a futile cycle, which plays a role in metabolic regulation.
[1] Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology can be used to silence the expression of the NNMT gene only in fat and liver cells.
ASOs are short strings of DNA that can be designed to prevent the synthesis of specific proteins.
ASOs have been approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of conditions with other genetic causes—such as elevated cholesterol and hyperlipidemia.