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Weight-loss drug 'kills fat cells'
Source: Agencies |
November 11, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
AN experimental drug that chokes the blood supply to fat cells has helped obese monkeys to slim, a sign that it may work in people, according to US researchers.
The drug, known as Adipotide, involves an approach different from other weight-loss medicines, which have generally tried to control appetite, alter the absorption of fat or increase metabolism.
Renata Pasqualini, of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, whose study appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine, said: "Development of this compound for human use would provide a non-surgical way to reduce accumulated white fat."
The drug works by seeking out and sticking to proteins on the surface of blood vessels that feed white fat cells - the kind that gather under the skin and around the middle. Once attached, the drug releases a synthetic molecule that kills the fat cells.
Earlier tests of the drug on obese mice helped them lose 30 percent of their body weight. The latest study involved 15 monkeys that became obese in much the same way humans do - by overeating and getting too little exercise.
Ten monkeys were treated and lost an average of 38.7 percent of their total body fat, including 27 percent of their abdominal fat.
The monkeys remained bright and alert throughout the study. The chief side-effects were increased urine output and slight dehydration, both symptoms of mild kidney failure. But these were reversible and varied by dose.
The researchers are now planning to test the drug on obese patients.
The drug, known as Adipotide, involves an approach different from other weight-loss medicines, which have generally tried to control appetite, alter the absorption of fat or increase metabolism.
Renata Pasqualini, of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, whose study appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine, said: "Development of this compound for human use would provide a non-surgical way to reduce accumulated white fat."
The drug works by seeking out and sticking to proteins on the surface of blood vessels that feed white fat cells - the kind that gather under the skin and around the middle. Once attached, the drug releases a synthetic molecule that kills the fat cells.
Earlier tests of the drug on obese mice helped them lose 30 percent of their body weight. The latest study involved 15 monkeys that became obese in much the same way humans do - by overeating and getting too little exercise.
Ten monkeys were treated and lost an average of 38.7 percent of their total body fat, including 27 percent of their abdominal fat.
The monkeys remained bright and alert throughout the study. The chief side-effects were increased urine output and slight dehydration, both symptoms of mild kidney failure. But these were reversible and varied by dose.
The researchers are now planning to test the drug on obese patients.
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