May 10, 2004 -- Fat mice become normal sized after only four we
May 10, 2004 -- Fat mice become normal sized after only four weeks of a fat-zapping obesity treatment.
The treatment doesn't seem to hurt the mice. They lose only their extra weight and do not become too skinny. And all this happens while the mice continue to eat a high-calorie diet.
The obesity treatment works like a microscopic smart bomb aimed at fat cells' blood supply. Specifically, the target is a protein called prohibitin, which helps form the cells lining blood vessels. Blood vessels in human fat also carry this target, note researchers Mikhail G. Kolonin, PhD, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues.
The treatment causes the blood vessels in fat to shrink, starving the fat cells. The treatment is designed to target blood vessels only in fat. Other blood vessels in the body are unharmed.
"This work may lead to the development of targeted drugs for the treatment of obese patients," Kolonin and colleagues write. Their report will appear in the June issue of Nature Medicine.
Untested in Humans
The obesity treatment is not ready for human tests -- not by a long shot. It usually takes years for novel treatment ideas to prove safe and effective enough to be tried in humans.
Still, the mouse results are amazing. Kolonin and colleagues used mice that got obese much the same way humans do -- by eating a high-calorie diet. Like obese humans, the obese mice had high blood sugar and insulin resistance -- signs that diabetes is on the way. And also like obese humans, the obese mice had globs of fat in their livers and muscles.
The mice didn't stop eating, although they ate a little less during treatment than they did before. But their blood sugar and insulin resistance returned to normal. And their livers and muscle tissues were free of fat.
Interestingly, the mice didn't lose all of their fat -- just their extra fat. Photographs of the treated, once-obese mice show normal-looking animals.
The researchers also tested the compound on mice that got fat not because they overate, but because of old age. It worked on them, too. After treatment, however, they slowly began to regain their lost weight.
SOURCE: Kolonin, M.G. Nature Medicine, June 2004; published online May 9, 2004.
