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posted by martyb on Friday October 14 2016, @04:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the fat-chance dept.

Current anti-obesity medications are only partly effective, due to substantial side effects, the temporary nature of the weight loss and the non-responsiveness of a considerable number of patients.

In a recently published series of studies led by TSRI Assistant Professor Anutosh Chakraborty of the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), scientists have identified a new therapeutic target -- a key protein that promotes fat accumulation in animal models by slowing the breakdown and expenditure of fat and encouraging weight gain.

[...] The expenditure of fat energy is preceded by a process called lipolysis that breaks down stored fat or triglycerides (specifically into free fatty acids and glycerol) to be used as energy in cells. The team discovered that deletion of IP6K1 affects interaction with another regulating protein and enhances the breakdown of fats.

To determine the therapeutic possibilities of the IP6K1 pathway, the team looked at the impact of an IP6K inhibitor known as TNP [N2-(m-Trifluorobenzyl), N6-(p-nitrobenzyl) purine] on diet-induced obesity in animal models. As it turns out, TNP significantly slows the initiation of diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance.

Journal References:

  1. Qingzhang Zhu, Sarbani Ghoshal, Ana Rodrigues, Su Gao, Alice Asterian, Theodore M. Kamenecka, James C. Barrow, Anutosh Chakraborty. Adipocyte-specific deletion of Ip6k1 reduces diet-induced obesity by enhancing AMPK-mediated thermogenesis. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2016; DOI: 10.1172/JCI85510
  2. Sarbani Ghoshal, Richa Tyagi, Qingzhang Zhu, Anutosh Chakraborty. Inositol hexakisphosphate kinase-1 interacts with perilipin1 to modulate lipolysis. The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 2016; 78: 149 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocel.2016.06.018
  3. Sarbani Ghoshal, Qingzhang Zhu, Alice Asteian, Hua Lin, Haifei Xu, Glen Ernst, James C. Barrow, Baoji Xu, Michael D. Cameron, Theodore M. Kamenecka, Anutosh Chakraborty. TNP [N2-(m-Trifluorobenzyl), N6-(p-nitrobenzyl)purine] ameliorates diet induced obesity and insulin resistance via inhibition of the IP6K1 pathway. Molecular Metabolism, 2016; 5 (10): 903 DOI: 10.1016/j.molmet.2016.08.008

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 14 2016, @10:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 14 2016, @10:27AM (#414215)

    Remember, animal models are just that "models". The sheer fact of the *size* of humans makes the subtlety of some of these discoveries questionable.

    It is worse than that. The premise behind research like this is highly questionable. You are going to find a single protien target, that is so important that modifying its activity alone will lead to weight loss, yet there wont be any awful side effects? Biomed is taken over more and more by either hypsters or fools every year...