Advances in the treatment against obesity

• April 29, 2024

According to the magazine Science, a team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University successfully tested a treatment that blocks the so-called "hunger hormone", in order to reduce and control the weight .

About, Brad Barnett and colleagues from the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at that University of Baltimore (Maryland) designed a compound that interferes with the ghrelin , a peptide hormone which, among other effects on mammals, promotes weight gain by stimulating appetite:

"The persistent increase in the proportion of individuals with over weight in Western society over the past three decades has been linked to a substantial increase in morbidity . This is recognized as a serious public health problem. "

In the text published by Science, it is indicated that to stop the high rates of overweight Y obesity that prevail in the world "intense efforts are under way to clarify the interactions of nutrients and hormones that contribute to weight gain ".

Previous studies established that the levels in the blood of that hormone of natural origin are lower immediately after ingestion of food and gradually increase during fasting.

The scientists determined that the levels of ghrelin they are taller in thin people compared to people who suffer from obesity .

The power of ghrelin

The researchers of Hopkins they discovered that the ghrelin it does not act unless it is a carrier of a specific octanoyl secondary chain, added by an enzyme called acyltransferase-O-ghrelin (GOAT, for its acronym in English).

Barnett's team designed a peptide-based compound that he named GO-CoA-Tat, which inhibits GOAT, and injected it into mice that were fed high-protein diets. fats .

Then, they sat down to observe the mice and found that the compound improved the tolerance of the mice to the glucose and delayed the weight gain without reducing the amount of food eaten.

According to the researchers, this indicates that the compound affects the metabolism instead of decreasing the appetite . The article points out that the treatment requires repeated injections of GO-CoA-Tat and, therefore, it is unlikely to develop as a medication for the human obesity .

The importance of the study is that it has established that the GOAT is a potentially valuable target for the development of future efforts towards a treatment of the obesity .  

Video Medicine: Why Weight?: Advances in Obesity Treatment (April 2024).