Obesity and related diseases are a growing public health problem worldwide. Scientists are still struggling to find a way out. Recently they have managed to develop a vaccine to promote weight loss.
Medical Xpress reports that in a new study published in the Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, experts evaluated the efficacy of two vaccines – JH17 and JH18 – against obesity in mice.
The vaccines have been developed on the basis of somatostatin – a peptide hormone that suppresses the action of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor, which simultaneously accelerate metabolism and lead to weight loss. Modified somatostatin vaccination makes the body produce antibodies to the hormone, effectively eliminating the block without direct confrontation with growth hormones, and activating energy expenditure and weight loss.
Keith Haffer together with his colleagues from the Braasch Biotech LLC company specializing in the development of vaccines conducted an experiment on obese mice, which were divided into two groups. All rodents were fed with high-fat products for eight weeks before the start of the experiment, and for six weeks after it began. Injections were made twice – at the beginning of the experiment and on the 22nd day. Four days after the first injection, the mice showed a 10% decrease in body weight (in the control group there were no similar changes). By the end of the study, the researchers found out that both vaccines induce antibodies to the hormone and significantly reduce weight without affecting the normal level of growth hormone and insulin.
K.Haffer said this study demonstrates the possibility of treating obesity by vaccination. Although further research is needed to examine the long-term impact of these vaccines, this way of obesity treatment can give doctors an opportunity to fight the epidemic without drugs and surgery.
