Obesity vaccine

The battle with 'non-infectious pandemic' is promising new prospects when the obesity vaccine, showing many positive signs on experimental animals .

Mice were vaccinated with obesity (right) and obese mice (Photo: NLD)

Once considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the ' non-infectious pandemic ' of the 21st century, obesity is undercover as a health risk for many countries. It is the cause of most diseases, from cardiovascular, cancers, strokes, arthritis to type 2 diabetes and depression . And there have been many scientific studies from basics. to the clinical experiment done in the world but until now, the ability to control obesity expansion is still open .

Ghrelin - the main clue

This is not the only attempt to develop a vaccine aimed at ghrelin, a hormone that usually increases before each meal, functions to regulate body energy balance. Previously, Swiss Biotechnology Company Cytos also tested another vaccine, by preventing energy absorption from the brain. The main target of this vaccine is to suppress appetite. And, Scripps University's vaccine also targets ghrelin, but by interfering with its mechanism of energy metabolism, inactivation, mainly appetite and energy absorption of the body. Its weight loss prospects not only inhibit the need for energy consumption but also the ability to dissolve body fat cells .

There will be an obesity vaccine

In a recent issue of the PNAS National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California reported that they have produced ghrelin attack antibodies through the immune system and have shown signs of weight loss in experimental mice. 'In this way, the immune system can recognize a molecule that it doesn't normally recognize - Dr. D.Janda, Professor of Scripps University chemistry, writes. These antibodies inhibit and deactivate ghrelin in the same way as when we vaccinated against bacterial and viral diseases. The vaccinated mice had a 20% -30% reduction in body weight even though they were still fed with the same diet as normal mice .

Researchers say it will target the activation of some other antibodies in the body and is expected to conduct human tests in the near future. However, it may be too early to touch such a vaccine, for reasons such as how to make it in the form of, can be vaccinated once or have multiple injections periodically . The authors hope to choose the dose of vaccine in the form of tablets, orally, similar to polio vaccine and other diseases .

A.HOW