NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have successfully reversed diet-induced obesity in mice through subcutaneous injection of a chimeric proapoptotic peptide that cuts off the blood supply to fat tissue leading to its reabsorption, according to an advance online publication of the June issue of Nature Medicine.
Dr. Mikhail G. Kolonin and colleagues note that four weeks of treatment with the experimental compound caused a rapid decrease in fat mass, effectively restoring the normal weight of mice that had doubled their size by eating a high-fat diet.
“Most current obesity treatments involve efforts to prevent new fat accumulation,” Dr. Kolonin said in a statement. “This makes our approach unique and exciting, because it shows in animal models that we can remove already-formed fat by a non-surgical method, a molecular liposuction.”
Dr. Kolonin and colleagues screened a phase-display library for peptides that home in on vasculature of white fat. They isolated a peptide motif that binds to prohibitin, a cell-surface receptor on white fat vasculature.
In obese mice, targeted delivery to fat tissue of the chimeric proapoptotic peptide recognizing prohibitin, ablated fat cells without detectable adverse physiological effects.
“When you inject our drug into mice, it homes in on and promotes the death of blood vessels associated with white fat tissue, which is then reabsorbed and metabolized,” co-investigator Dr. Wadih Arap pointed out.
“Because prohibitin is also expressed in blood vessels of human white fat,” the researchers conclude, “this work may lead to the development of targeted drugs for treatment of obese patients.”
Source: Nature Med 2004. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:Fats: Mice, Mutant Strains: Mice, Obese: Gene Library: Peptide LibraryCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
