Protein that prevents obesity may lead to weight-reduction drug

• An obesity-preventing protein identified during experiments on mice is expected to lead to the development of a weight-reducing drug.
• The protein was identified by a team of researchers from Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. and Keio University, who published their findings in the March 21 online edition of U.S. science magazine, Nature Medicine.
• In 2003, Keio University researchers led by Yuichi Oike, a lecturer at the university's medical school, and Yamanouchi's Molecular Medicine Laboratories, found a new protein secreted by the liver that is capable of reproducing veins and skin.
• The research team named it angiopoietin-related growth factor (AGF).
• To shed light on the mechanism of the protein, which also exists in humans, mice were engineered to lose their AGF.
• They grew to about 50 grams, much larger than ordinary mice, who usually weigh an average of 30 grams.
• The genetically engineered mice had a lower basal metabolism, more fat in their internal organs and a higher level of subcutaneous fat.
• But mice who were modified to have twice as much AGF only gained about eight grams after eating high-calorie food for three months, and showed no signs of diabetes.
• Ordinary mice that ate the same food during the same period gained 24 grams and showed diabetic symptoms, the researchers found.
• Oike said if a drug capable of increasing the amount of AGF in humans could be produced, it would be a major development for treating obesity and diabetes.