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Ways to Promote Durable Weight Loss in Obese Patients Found

Recently, in a study published in Nature Medicine, researchers from Charite Medical College in Berlin successfully treated obese patients due to hereditary defects. The new drugs developed by the researchers not only benefit patients, but also help them understand the basic signal pathways that regulate the satiety of this new drug.

Gene mutations that encode leptin receptors induce individuals to become extremely hungry during the first few months of life. Affected individuals then progress to extreme obesity during childhood, and increasing exercise and reducing caloric intake are usually not enough to stabilize their weight; in many cases, obesity surgery will not bring any benefit, which means that drug-based therapy may be important for effective weight control and even weight loss.

Two years ago, researchers Peter Kuhnen and his colleagues successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of the use of special peptides as therapy. This particular peptide activates the expression of melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), and MC4R plays a key role in energy metabolism and body weight regulation. Leptin is a well-known satiety and hunger hormone, which normally binds to leptin receptors and induces a series of steps that lead to the production of melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH). MSH can act by binding to its receptor MC4R, whereas MC4R can transduce satiety signals into the body. However, if the leptin receptor is absent, the signal cascade effect will be disturbed.

If the patient’s hunger is not diminished, they may be at greater risk of obesity. In the article, researchers used this peptide to bind to MC4R in the brain to induce normal satiety signals. When a joint study was conducted with the researchers of the Berlin Institute for Health Research, researchers were able to clearly record the apparent body weight loss in the body of patients with Leptin Receptor Deficiency affected by genetic defects.

Finally, the researcher Kuhnen said, further studies are needed to determine the mechanism of effectiveness of the peptides used, and why it does not cause any side effects on patients. This new type of therapy may be able to effectively activate special important signaling pathways and its importance seems to be underestimated. Researchers plan to conduct more in-depth studies to determine whether other patients will benefit from this new class of peptides. Using this novel therapy may also be able to treat other patients affected by the same signaling pathway.

Reference

Karine Clément, Heike Biebermann, I. Sadaf Farooqi, et al. MC4R agonism promotes durable weight loss in patients with leptin receptor deficiency. Nature Medicine (2018) doi:10.1038/s41591-018-0015-9



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Ways to Promote Durable Weight Loss in Obese Patients Found

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