배부른데 살 빠지는 ‘진짜’ 다이어트약 개발 New Weight Loss Drug Mimics The Effects Of Eating An Entire Meal

​美 솔크연구소, 펙사라민 임상시험 앞둬,

포만감 주면서 체지방도 연소시켜

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​ 먹으면 배가 부르면서도 살이 빠지는 ‘진짜’ 다이어트약이 나왔다. ​ 오늘날 여러 종류의 다이어트 약이 시판되고 있지만 체내 지방 흡수능력을 일부 억제시키거나 식욕을 줄이는 수준이 대부분이었다. 로널드 에반스 미국 솔크 생물학 연구소(Salk Institute) 박사팀은 먹으면 마치 진짜 음식을 먹은 것처럼 포만감을 주고 체지방 연소를 자극하면서도 칼로리가 없는 신약 ‘펙사라민(fexramine)’의 전임상 시험을 마치고 임상시험을 앞두고 있다고 ‘네이처 메디슨’ 5일자에 발표했다. 간과 장에 주로 분포한 담즙 수용체(FXR)는 섭취한 음식물을 통해 자극을 받으면 소화를 돕기 위해 담즙을 분비하고 혈당을 조절하며 지방을 연소하는 과정에 관여한다. 이런 기능 때문에 이전부터 여러 제약회사에서는 다이어트 약을 만들 목적으로 담즙 수용체를 자극하는 약을 개발하려 했지만 소화기관 외에도 다양한 장기에서 영향을 끼치고 부작용을 일으켜 개발에 어려움이 있었다. 연구팀은 약제가 장내에서만 머무르고 혈관을 통해 다른 신체 부위로 퍼지지 못하도록 하는 신약 펙사라민을 개발했다. 비만인 쥐에게 이 약을 5주간 먹이자 쥐의 체중 증가가 멈추고 체지방이 줄어들며 콜레스테롤 수치와 혈당 수치가 낮아지는 효과가 나타났다. 몸에 해로운 내장지방 또한 줄어든 것으로 확인됐다. ​ 에반스 박사는 “신약은 ‘상상 속의 음식(imaginary meal)’과 비슷하다”며 “몸은 진짜 음식을 먹은 것처럼 반응하는 데 실상 칼로리가 없어 다이어트 효과가 난다”고 설명했다. 연구팀은 “현재 펙사라민이 임상시험에 돌입하기 위한 이전 시험 단계를 모두 마친 상태”라며 “담즙 수용체를 자극하기 위해 만들어졌던 다른 약들보다 안전하다”고 말했다. 동아사이언스 이우상 기자 idol@donga.com

 

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​ Researchers at the Salk Institute have developed a new weight loss pill that tricks the body into believing it has consumed calories, which then triggers a fat-burning response. ​ The compound, called fexaramine, has only been tested on obese and diabetic mice, but the results of the experiment are so promising that human trials are next. Encouragingly, and unlike other diet pills on the market, fexaramine doesn't dissolve into the blood like appetite suppressants or caffeine-based diet drugs. Instead, it stays in the intestines, causing fewer side effects.   "This pill is like an imaginary meal," noted senior author Ronald Evans, director of Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory, in a release. "It sends out the same signals that normally happen when you eat a lot of food, so the body starts clearing out space to store it. But there are no calories and no change in appetite." The new study, which now appears in Nature Medicine, showed that the compound can stop weight gain, lower cholesterol, control blood sugar, and minimize inflammation in mice.   Evans' laboratory has spent nearly two decades studying the farensoid X receptor (FXR), a protein that plays a role in how the body releases bile acids from the liver, digests food and stores fats and sugars. The human body turns on FXR at the beginning of a meal, Evans and others have shown, to prepare for an influx of food. FXR not only triggers the release of bile acids for digestion, but also changes blood sugar levels and causes the body to burn some fats in preparation for the incoming meal.   Pharmaceutical companies aiming to treat obesity, diabetes, liver disease and other metabolic conditions have developed systemic drugs that activate FXR, turning on many pathways that FXR controls. But these drugs affect several organs and come with side effects. Evans wondered whether switching on FXR only in the intestines–rather than the intestines, liver, kidneys and adrenal glands all at once–might have a different outcome.   "When you eat, you have to quickly activate a series of responses all throughout the body," says Evans. "And the reality is that the very first responder for all this is the intestine." The researchers believe that fexaramine works better in the intestines on account of the natural order in which the body's molecular pathway typically responds to incoming calories. A good analogy is a relay race in which every runner starts at the time time. By targeting the intestines, the metabolic response can commence in a natural order.   Certainly interesting! And clearly a promising alternative to other drugs and gastric bypass surgery. But we clearly need to temper our expectations before human studies are carried out. As noted in The Guardian:   Many drugs that work well in mice turn out to be far less effective in humans and fail to make it to market.   "We now know that our sense of 'fullness' after meals is largely dependent on hormones produced in specialised cells scattered along the gut. These cells sense the nutritional content of our food and send out those signals in response to digested and partially digested food. If we could fool those cells into thinking we have had a meal that could be a way of reducing people's food intake to produce safe weight loss," said Professor Sir Stephen O'Rahilly, director of the MRC metabolic diseases unit at Cambridge University.   "The authors of this paper show that a particular drug they have tested can do that in mice. While these are interesting observations, only a modest percentage of drugs that seem effective in mice ever make it into the clinic for patients," he added.   Nick Finer, a specialist in obesity medicine at UCL, said the work was "potentially of great importance to our basic understanding of how energy intake is balanced by energy expenditure, and potentially as to why this system is mismatched in those who gain – or lose – excessive weight. http://io9.com/new-weight-loss-drug-mimics-the-effects-of-eating-an-en-1677723249

 

 

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