A pill that stops you feeling hungry? It could soon be a reality

Blocking one enzyme could help solve multiple problems associated with obesity

By RICHARD PRIDAY
Sunday 26 August 2018


Leptin is the body’s hunger hormone. It’s produced in white fat cells when we eat and when it binds with receptors in the hypothalamus, it produces the feeling of being full. It’s been known for some time that obese people have difficulty feeling full when eating because of leptin resistance but, until now, the underlying reason was unknown.

A new study indicates the potential culprit. The paper, published in Science Translational Medicine by researchers in the US, Israel and Australia, set out to understand the loss of the satiety response in mice on a high fat diet. It concludes that an enzyme called MMP2 damages the brain’s ability to signal satiety.

MMP2, the acronym for matrix metalloproteinase-2, is primarily produced by muscle and fat cells. It is able to break down and restructure cells, and is involved in processes like scarring and embryonic development. As the study shows, this enzyme can also destroy the external part of the leptin receptors in the brain, which are made of protein.

“It’s like the receptor’s head is cut off”, says Geert Schmid-Schonbein, one of the study’s authors and bioengineering professor at University of California San Diego, specialising in inflammation and chronic metabolic diseases. He explains that while the whole receptor isn’t destroyed – and it can potentially regenerate – the ‘clipping’ means that the leptin no longer can bind to it. This reduces the strength of the chemical signal that the receptors produce. As a result, the satiety reflex - in other words, the feeling of being full after eating - is weakened.

More:
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/hunger-pill-obesity-research