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A Vaccine Fighting Obesity
A vaccine against obesity is about to go on trial in Switzerland. The vaccine consists of an antibody against ghrelin, a peptide (small protein) that regulates appetite. Injecting extra ghrelin into people makes them hungrier and encourages them to eat more. Obese people who lose weight develop higher levels of ghrelin, which encourages them to eat more and put the weight back. The operations that reduce the size of stomach is effective in part because ghrelin levels are reduced as a result of the operation. Cytos, the company undertaking the trial, believes that its vaccine will suppress ghrelin levels in obese people, lower their appetite and make it easier for them to follow a weight reducing diet. Animal experiments suggest that it may work, it provoked high levels of antibodies against ghrelin and weight loss.
CYTOS 's vaccine is the first to enter human trials against obesity. The company has two other vaccines in development- to treat nicotine addiction and high blood pressure.
The vaccine will work by inducing the recipient's immune system to create antibodies that bind to ghrelin and reduce the amount that reaches the brain. This should reduce the hunger signal and make it easier for obese people to stick to a weight reducing diet.
Nobody yet knows whether ghrelin is the key to many cases of obesity, or just a few. An earlier discovery, the hormone leptin, which is an appetite suppressant, has turned out to be of limited use because most overweight people do not respond to it.
Wolfgang Renner, chief executive officer of Cytos Biotechnology, said "Obesity is on its way to becoming the leading cause of preventable death in Western countries such as USA."
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