Gene therapy offers promising new way to treat obesity
As the obesity epidemic expands, it’s clear that a safe, effective clinical weight-control therapy would convey significant benefits. With current behavioral, pharmaceutical and surgical interventions proving inadequate, researchers are focusing on the fine details about how the body regulates energy intake and production for possible answers.
Recent work led by Matthew During of Auckland University (New Zealand) and the Ohio State University has yielded a novel gene therapy technique that has proven highly effective in JAX® Mice. As reported online on March 8, 2009, in Nature Medicine, direct manipulation of a protein identified as a key component of body weight and energy maintenance (brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF) led to significant body weight reduction and improvement of diabetes symptoms in obese mice.
The researchers introduced mechanisms to both increase and regulate BDNF production in the hypothalamus of the mice, so that a balance could be achieved once sufficient weight loss was reached. By using the body’s own regulatory system, the researchers hope that the therapy can soon be translated to human clinical settings and provide a way to safely treat morbid obesity with sustained results.
