Mouse Study Yields Obesity Drug Target

U.S. medical scientists conducting a study of mice survival have discovered a molecular target for drugs to treat human obesity and other metabolic disorders.

Professor Steven Kliewer and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center investigated a specific hormone that enables starving mice to alter their metabolism to conserve energy.

The starvation-fighting effects of the hormone, called fibroblast growth factor 21, was triggered in starving mice by a specific cellular receptor that controls the use of fat as energy. That results in a metabolic shift to burning stored fats instead of carbohydrates and inducing a hibernation-like state of decreased body temperature and physical activity — all geared to promote survival.

This hormone changes the metabolism and behavior of mice in the face of inadequate nutrition, said Kliewer, the study’s senior author. We hope to manipulate this hormone-receptor signaling pathway to craft the next generation of drugs to combat human obesity and other conditions.

The research is described online in the journal Cell Metabolism.