Scientists have found a protein that prevents fat buildup and reduces blood sugar levels, which could cut soaring obesity rates worldwide.
The protein, named BAM15, acts as an ‘energy uncoupler’ and could be an effective drug for treating obesity and related diseases, US researchers say.
BAM15 makes the mitochondria, the ‘power plants’ of living cells, less efficient, meaning they burn more energy and therefore more fat.
In lab trials using mice, scientists found mice given BAM15 were resistant to weight gain because they burned more calories than their untreated counterparts.
BAM15 could be used to treat a number of health conditions including diabetes, fatty liver disease and some forms of cancer, which can all result from obesity.
Obesity affects more than 650 million people worldwide and drives a number of dangerous health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and more than a dozen deadly cancers.
BAM15 had positive effects in the blood, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue – loose connective tissue that cushions and insulates the body, even for mice on a 60 per cent high fat diet (HFD)
According to the World Health Organisation, 27.8 per cent of the UK’s population are obese and the UK is Europe’s third fattest nation, behind only Malta and Turkey.
Global spending to treat obesity and obesity-related illnesses amounts to well over $150 billion (£117.3 billion) a year.
‘Halting the obesity epidemic requires new, more effective medications,’ said Dr John Kirwan, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
‘This research represents a very promising step in the discovery process.’
TEM micrograph image of a cell formed in early in fetal development. It shows the nucleus (green), nuclear envelope (pink), an atypical nucleolus (dark blue), lipid droplets (yellow) in the cytoplasm (cian) and the mitochondria (red). BAM15 works by making the mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, less efficient. The result is that the mitochondria burn more energy
Obesity is a growing epidemic and a leading cause of preventable death worldwide.
At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese, according to the European Association for the Study of Obesity, while worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975, according to the WHO.
Despite this, current strategies for the treatment of obesity remain ineffective at achieving long‐term weight control, the researchers say in their paper, published in EMBO Molecular Medicine.
While a handful of medications for obesity treatment are currently approved by the US’s Food and Drug Administration, the people who take these drugs ‘rarely achieve long-term weight loss’, Dr Kirwan said.
To determine the feasibility of the new treatment, 10‐week‐old male mice on a high-fat diet were subjected to three weeks of BAM15 supplements, and then compared to a sample that didn’t receive BAM15.
In the team’s trials, mice treated with BAM15 were not only resistant to weight gain, but showed reduced blood sugar and insulin levels, independent of weight loss.
These effects were attributable to drug targeting of tissues that are rich with lipids – oily molecules that make up fats.
BAM15 was also found to give improved sensitivity to the effects of insulin in skeletal muscle – one of our three major muscle types.
In humans, high insulin-sensitivity allows cells to use blood glucose more effectively, reducing blood sugar, while skeletal muscle insulin-resistance is a primary risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes.
BAM15 also reduces fat accumulation overall by restricting fat from building up in the liver, kidney, and blood, they found.
Accumulating too much fat in one’s liver, kidneys or blood can damage the organs and lead to heart disease.
Overall, BAM15 had effects in the blood, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue – loose connective tissue that cushions and insulates the body – even though mice were on a 60 per cent high fat diet (HFD).
‘BAM15 markedly increases mitochondrial respiration and sustains activity to a greater extent than previously identified compounds,’ the research team say.
In the form of an injection or pill, BAM15 could help achieve the ultimate goal in the fight against the obesity epidemic.
An enzyme called AMPK is required to sustain the metabolic benefit of BAM15, however, which occurs primarily in adipose tissue.
BAM15 is also a synthetic compound and the research team are yet to find a natural source in plants or humans.
According to the World Health Organisation 27.8 per cent of the UK’s population are obese and the UK is Europe’s third fattest nation
‘We hope that in the not-too-distant future, BAM15 or related compounds will advance to clinical drug development and become a viable treatment option for patients with obesity,’ Dr Kirwan said.
‘Our current focus is to determine the diverse metabolic applications of BAM15, such as use in liver disease, obesity-related cancers, and ageing.
‘Once the most suitable clinical applications have been determined, it becomes possible to begin the modification of the native compound to best suit needs in the clinic.’
British experts at the National Obesity Forum, an organisation that works against obesity epidemics, said his lab is highly respected and may have stumbled on the ‘holy grail’.
‘Every scientist in the world is looking to develop the treatment of choice for obesity,’ said Tam Fry, chairman and spokesman for the National Obesity Forum.
‘In concentrating on this protein Pennington might well be about to find the holy grail – but don’t count on reaching for your BAM15 yet.
‘If it works with mice it has got off to a good start but success must await human trials once FDA permission for them has been given.
‘The good news is this US laboratory has a good record for similar innovative research.’