Posted on 08/30/2009 3:27:00 PM PDT by RolandTignor
Researchers searching for a cure for obesity said on Thursday they have developed a drug that not only makes mice lose weight, but reverses diabetes and lowers their cholesterol, too.
The drug, which they have dubbed fatostatin, stops the body from making fat, instead releasing the energy from food. They hope it may lead to a pill that would fight obesity, diabetes and cholesterol, all at once.
Writing in the journal Chemistry and Biology, Salih Wakil of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, Motonari Uesugi of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues said the drug interferes with a suite of genes turned on by overeating.
"Here, we are tackling the basics," Wakil said in a telephone interview. "I think that is what excited us."
Scientists are painfully aware that drugs that can make mice thin do nothing of the sort in humans. A hormone called leptin can make rats and mice drop weight almost miraculously but does little or nothing for an obese person, for instance.
But Wakil, whose team has patented the drug and is looking for a drug company to partner with, hopes this drug may be different. "I am very, very optimistic," he said.
Fatostatin is a small molecule, meaning it has the potential to be absorbed in pill form.
It works on so-called sterol regulatory element binding proteins or SREBPs, which are transcription factors that activate genes involved in making cholesterol and fatty acids.
"Fatostatin blocked increases in body weight, blood glucose, and hepatic (liver) fat accumulation in (genetically) obese mice, even under uncontrolled food intake," the researchers wrote.
Genetic tests showed the drug affected 63 different genes.
The idea of interfering with SREBP is not new. GlaxSmithKline has been working on a new-generation cholesterol drug that uses this pathway.
After four weeks, mice injected with fatostatin weighed 12 percent less and had 70 percent lower blood sugar levels, the researchers wrote.
Now they plan to test rats and rabbits, Wakil said.
The drug also had effects on prostate cancer cells they said -- something that may help explain links between prostate cancer and obesity.
“What’s all this then?” ping.
Great news indeed for once.
work
That's a scary blood glucose reduction.
If the baseline was a normal glucose level. If they’re talking about grossly diabetic rats that’s another story.
I’m wondering if that’s over a period of time, or very rapidly. Seriously, when someone has an unregulated CBG of 275, then a 70% reduction might be a good thing.
What has my interest is how stomach surgery can change people’s Type II Diabetes (or metabolic syndrome) into a more normal range. Doesn’t seem to be totally related to weight loss, starts occurring right after the surgery.
Sign me up, and pass the pork rinds! :)
could be under the right circumstances
It’s already been invented...it’s called “Dietandexercise.”
Anyways, yes, this may be good news. Its a shame our modern lifestyles and eating habits are making us fat, but lets face it, we are never going to voluntarily change back, so something like this could be quite useful. I wonder what the exact mechanism, if it affects the metabolism, appetite, or both.
I am currently in the middle of a major weight loss diet (40 lbs, and I am a short guy!) So far, its been hard as heck, much harder than when I was young. I finally had to do a radical diet to get it working....
I agree. This might be good for Type ii Diabetes sufferers who are also obese but not much more.
You should look into the diet that people follow after the surgery. I believe the diet has something to do with the diabetes going away.
Also, low-carb/paleo works well.
“That’s a scary blood glucose reduction.”
It would be scary if your blood glucose were only about 125, but perfectly satisfactory if it were up in the range of 200 or so. At about 300 or so, the extremities start dying, blindness occurs, and the kidneys fail.
Really fast.
Cholesterol does NOT cause heart disease. High cholesterol is most likely a symptom of other factors, such as obesity, smoking, sedentary lifestyles, genetics, or other diseases. In fact, when studies are reviewed, and high-risk patients are removed, the majority of those who developed heart disease actually had LOW cholesterol. There are many studies coming to light now, in fact, that demonstrate that high cholesterol may be GOOD for you, and is your body’s response to other factors as a self-healing mechanism.
See http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth1.htm
Dr. Ravnskov has taken a second look at the data that the pharma companies are manipulating to sell their statin drugs. When you read his findings at the link above, I’m sure your eyes will be widely opened. This is the biggest scam perpetrated on the public since Obama ran for election (actually, this was before that).
Under Obamacare this type of break through drug research will no longer be done as government regulators will never approve the cost of such drugs.
Post-gastric bypass people are told to push the protein anyway. . .it’s the effectively the Paleo diet. .
Not enough information from the article to know a dose related effect.
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