Johns Hopkins University researchers have successfully tested micea treatment that blocksghrelin, better known as“hunger hormone”, and that, in addition to helping to control weight, it may have other metabolic benefits.
According to an article published today in the magazineScience, Brad Barnett and colleagues from the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences designed a compound that interferes with ghrelin, a mammalian hormone that, among other effects, promotes weight gain by stimulating appetite.
Previous studies established thatblood levels of this hormoneare lower immediately after ingestion of food andgradually increase during fasting. Also, scientists had determined that ghrelin levels are higher in lean people compared to those who are obese.
On the other hand, ghrelin does not work unless it incorporates a fatty acid that must be added by an enzyme called acyltransferase-O-ghrelin (GOAT). Barnett’s team decided to design a compound they called GO-CoA-Tat, which inhibits GOAT, and injected it into mice fed high-fat diets. Thus, they verified that the compound improved the mice’s tolerance to glucose and delayed weight gain without reducing the amount of food eaten. According to the researchers, this indicates thatthe compound affects metabolism instead of decreasing appetite.
The authors note that the treatment requires repeated injections of GO-CoA-Tat and is therefore unlikely to be developed as a drug for human obesity. However, the importance of the study is that it has established thatGOAT is a potentially valuable target for future efforts toward obesity treatment.
