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Targeting GTRAP3-18 Gene may Help Regulate Body Weight

by Anjali Aryamvally on Oct 6 2017 7:48 PM

Targeting GTRAP3-18 Gene may Help Regulate Body Weight
Study finds a novel gene involved in maintaining body weight. The interaction between the “body weight” gene, GTRAP3-18 and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in the hypothalamus regulate food intake and blood glucose levels. Inhibiting this interaction may one day prove to be a strategy for treating leptin/insulin resistant patients with obesity or type 2 diabetes. The study was published online in The FASEB Journal.
"Eating too much or too little could actually be a genetic problem, rather than an insulin issue," said Toshio Nakaki, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher in the Department of Pharmacology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, in Tokyo, Japan. "Drugs targeting the GTRAP3-18 gene could be therapeutic for obesity or appetite-related disorders."

Study Findings

Nakaki and colleagues analyzed a group of mice defective in the GTRAP3-18 gene. The GTRAP3-18-deficient mice were lean as compared with wild type mice. The leanness was due to neither increased locomotive activity nor basal metabolism, but rather a dysregulation of feeding behavior, or hypophagia. The GTRAP3-18-deficient mice also displayed hypoglycemia.

"This revealing investigation opens a new window on what is likely to be a key regulatory loop in the food intake-weight control axis, with considerable therapeutic potential," said Thoru Pederson, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal.



Source-Eurekalert


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