(Press-News.org) Medical researchers at the University of Sheffield have defined the structure of a key part of the human obesity receptor- an essential factor in the regulation of body fat- which could help provide new treatments for the complications of obesity and anorexia.
This major advance in research, published in the journal Structure, will greatly enhance the ability to generate drugs which can both block and stimulate the receptor for the obesity hormone leptin. This could have life-changing effects on people suffering from the complications of obesity and malnutrition.
Researchers have solved the challenging crystal structure of the leptin-binding domain of the obesity receptor using state of the art X-ray crystallography, helping them to work out how to block or stimulate the receptor. Leptin, the obesity hormone, is produced by fat and excess leptin predisposes overweight people to conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cancer and heart disease whilst a deficiency in leptin, as occurs in malnutrition, results in infertility and immunodeficiency.
Blocking the receptor, and therefore the excessive actions of leptin, could prevent the complications of obesity and stimulating the receptor may improve fertility and the immune response.
Professor Richard Ross, Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Sheffield said: "This pioneering research gives us the potential to generate new drugs that could treat conditions and diseases associated with obesity such as Multiple Sclerosis, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
"Modulating the actions of the obesity receptor provides a novel approach to the treatment of conditions associated with both obesity and anorexia and has the potential to make a massive difference to millions of people whose quality of life and health is hindered by obesity or malnutrition."
Controlling appetite is a fundamental basic physiological drive which in turn is connected to many other aspects of physiology, in particular fertility and the immune response.
Professor Pete Artymiuk, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, said: "The human obesity receptor binds the hormone leptin and together they play a key role in regulating appetite, fertility, and immunity.
"Using X-ray crystallography we have solved the structure of the leptin-binding domain of the receptor bound to a potential therapeutic antibody that blocks leptin binding. This is the first crystal structure for any part of this important receptor.
"Because we now know the precise atomic structure of the receptor we can begin to design drug molecules that can alter its activity. This can be useful in the treatment of a variety of diseases ranging from obesity to autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis."
###Notes to editors:
With nearly 25,000 students from 125 countries, the University of Sheffield is one of the UK's leading and largest universities. A member of the Russell Group, it has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.
The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007). These prestigious awards recognise outstanding contributions by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life. Sheffield also boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and many of its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence around the world. The University's research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, ICI, Slazenger, and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. Its partnership with Leeds and York Universities in the White Rose Consortium has a combined research power greater than that of either Oxford or Cambridge.
For further information, please visit www.sheffield.ac.uk
For further information please contact: Amy Pullan, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2229859 or email a.l.pullan@sheffield.ac.uk
New drug to tackle fat problems
2012-04-30
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Blood samples show deadly frog fungus at work in the wild
2012-04-30
The fungal infection that killed a record number of amphibians worldwide leads to deadly dehydration in frogs in the wild, according to results of a new study.
High levels of an aquatic, chytrid fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) disrupt fluid and electrolyte balance in wild frogs, the scientists say, severely depleting the frogs' sodium and potassium levels and causing cardiac arrest and death.
Their findings confirm what researchers have seen in carefully controlled lab experiments with the fungus, but San Francisco State University biologist Vance ...
Can nature's beauty lift citizens from poverty?
2012-04-30
Using nature's beauty as a tourist draw can boost conservation in China's valued panda preserves, but it isn't an automatic ticket out of poverty for the humans who live there, a unique long-term study shows.
Often those who benefit most from nature-based tourism are people who already have resources. The truly impoverished have a harder time breaking into the tourism business, according to the paper, "Drivers and Socioeconomic Impacts of Tourism Participation in Protected Areas," published in the April 25 edition of PLoS One.
The study looks at nearly a decade of burgeoning ...
Folding light: Wrinkles and twists boost power from solar panels
2012-04-30
Taking their cue from the humble leaf, researchers have used microscopic folds on the surface of photovoltaic material to significantly increase the power output of flexible, low-cost solar cells.
The team, led by scientists from Princeton University, reported online April 22 in the journal Nature Photonics that the folds resulted in a 47 percent increase in electricity generation. Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, the principal investigator, said the finely calibrated folds on the surface of the panels channel light waves and increase the photovoltaic material's exposure to light.
"On ...
NYUCN's Dr. Laura Wagner: Study finds accreditation improves safety culture at nursing homes
2012-04-30
Accredited nursing homes report a stronger resident safety culture than nonaccredited facilities, according to a new study published in the May 2012 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.
The study shows that senior managers at more than 4,000 facilities across the U.S. identify Joint Commission accreditation as a positive influence on patient safety issues such as staffing, teamwork, training, nonpunitive responses to mistakes, and communication openness. The findings that accreditation stimulates positive changes in safety-related organizational ...
Slow-growing babies more likely in normal-weight women; Less common in obese pregnancies
2012-04-30
Obesity during pregnancy puts women at higher risk of a multitude of challenges. But, according to a new study presented earlier this month at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine annual convention, fetal growth restriction, or the poor growth of a baby while in the mother's womb, is not one of them. In fact, study authors from the University of Rochester Medical Center found that the incidence of fetal growth restriction was lower in obese women when compared to non-obese women.
Researchers, led by senior study author and high-risk pregnancy expert Loralei ...
Assembly errors quickly identified
2012-04-30
Today's cars are increasingly custom-built. One customer might want electric windows, heated door mirrors and steering-wheel-mounted stereo controls, while another is satisfied with the minimum basic equipment. The situation with aircraft is no different: each airline is looking for different interior finishes – and lighting, ventilation, seating and monitors are different from one company to the next. Yet the customer's freedom is the manufacturer's challenge: because individual parts and mountings have to be installed in different locations along the fuselage, automated ...
Golden potential for gold thin films
2012-04-30
Scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have directed the first self-assembly of nanoparticles into device-ready materials. Through a relatively easy and inexpensive technique based on blending nanoparticles with block co-polymer supramolecules, the researchers produced multiple-layers of thin films from highly ordered one-, two- and three-dimensional arrays of gold nanoparticles. Thin films such as these have potential applications for a wide range of fields, including computer memory storage, ...
New graphene-based material could revolutionize electronics industry
2012-04-30
The most transparent, lightweight and flexible material ever for conducting electricity has been invented by a team from the University of Exeter. Called GraphExeter, the material could revolutionise the creation of wearable electronic devices, such as clothing containing computers, phones and MP3 players.
GraphExeter could also be used for the creation of 'smart' mirrors or windows, with computerised interactive features. Since this material is also transparent over a wide light spectrum, it could enhance by more than 30% the efficiency of solar panels.
Adapted from ...
lobSTR algorithm rolls DNA fingerprinting into 21st century
2012-04-30
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (April 27, 2012) – As any crime show buff can tell you, DNA evidence identifies a victim's remains, fingers the guilty, and sets the innocent free. But in reality, the processing of forensic DNA evidence takes much longer than a 60-minute primetime slot.
To create a victim or perpetrator's DNA profile, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) scans a DNA sample for at least 13 short tandem repeats (STRs). STRs are collections of repeated two to six nucleotide-long sequences, such as CTGCTGCTG, which are scattered around the genome. Because the ...
New avocado rootstocks are high-performing and disease-tolerant
2012-04-30
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Avocado, a significant fruit crop grown in many tropical and subtropical parts of the world, is threatened by Phytophthora root rot (PRR), a disease that has already eliminated commercial avocado production in many areas in Latin America and crippled production in Australia and South Africa. Just in California the disease is estimated to cost avocado growers approximately $30-40 million a year in production losses.
Research on developing PRR-tolerant rootstocks to manage the disease has been a major focus of avocado research at the University of California, ...