A new compound, designed by scientists from the IOCB of the Czech Academy of Sciences, may become a solution for two of the biggest health problems of our time: obesity and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from Dr. Lenka Maletínská’s team have modified a naturally occurring brain peptide to inhibit appetite and provide at the same time a neuroprotective action.
A new compound, based on the neuropeptide CART, has been proven to be more stable and potent. According to the European Journal of Pharmacology, the changed peptide reduces appetite but also inhibits the toxic effects of tau proteins, which are strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies conducted so far on cell cultures and animal models have been very promising. Obese mice, prone to diabetes, lost considerable body weight after administration of the compound. More than that, these mice indicated a reduced level in their brains of pathogenic tau protein, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The compound was found to work efficiently because of a process called lipidation whereby the natural peptide is bound to fatty acids, which helps it pass through the blood-brain barrier.
“We found that when a lipidized analog of the CART peptide is administered subcutaneously, it penetrates the brain, where it acts by suppressing appetite and exerting a neuroprotective effect in the case of long-term administration,” explained Vilém Charvát, the first author of the study. “It could therefore work in the treatment or prevention of neurodegenerative diseases.”
CART peptide was first isolated in the year 1998 by a Danish-based pharmaceutical company called Novo Nordisk. However, to this day, the exact receptor to which the whole complex peptide with three disulfide bridges binds is not known. The mechanism of action of this peptide is, therefore, vital to explain, according to Dr. Andrea Pačesová, the principal author of the research in question. “We have a potentially successful anti-obesity drug in hand that also appears to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. To develop this potential to its fullest, we need to know why the substance works the way it does,” she said. “If we want to explain how it acts, the first riddle that must be solved is how the peptide passes into the brain. We already know it works. What remains to be done is the identification of the right receptors.”
Dr. Maletínská’s team does believe in the future applications of this compound. According to her, peptides reducing appetite can be beneficial in treating neurogenerative diseases since new neurons can still appear in adulthood, and these peptides can help repair the damage done to the brain. Alzheimer’s: The greater possibility of success in its treatment exists if it is diagnosed during mild cognitive impairment.
This makes it an original piece of research, consequently opening new routes toward the treatment of obesity and giving further hope for fighting neurodegenerative diseases—this will be a tremendous advancement in medical science.