Here's the diabetes induction story:
Weight-control agent may induce diabetes | Israeli
biochemist notes link, urges caution with leptin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
15-Nov-1996 Friday
Menachem Rubinstein
WASHINGTON -- A natural protein that some hoped would be a "magic bullet"
for weight control may have a dark and dangerous side. New research links
the compound with diabetes.
The protein, called leptin, received a flurry of publicity last year when
studies showed that it caused extremely obese mice to lose up to 30 percent
of their weight. The mice also exercised more and ate less. Some
researchers raced to develop leptin or related proteins for use in humans.
But now a lab in Israel has found that leptin may play a role in
development of Type II diabetes, a serious disorder that frequently strikes
obese adults.
Menachem Rubinstein, a biochemist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in
Rehovot, Israel, said that when leptin is put on human liver cells in the
laboratory, it disrupts a normal action of insulin, the hormone essential
for control of sugar in the blood.
"We know that obese individuals have a high level of leptin and we know
that obese individuals have a tendency to develop diabetes," Rubinstein
said in an interview. "There might be a linkage. It might be that leptin is
one of the agents that induces Type II diabetes."
He said clinical studies with leptin should be approached with caution.
"One should look very carefully into using leptin as a weight-reducing
agent," said Rubinstein, warning that long-term treatment with leptin might
induce Type II diabetes.
Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks, a biotechnology firm, started human clinical
trials with leptin in May to determine if the protein causes any toxic side
effects. The firm plans clinical studies next year to determine if leptin
actually will control weight.
David Kaye, a spokesman for Amgen, said that so far researchers for the
company have detected no harmful side effects from leptin.
Arthur Campfield, a researcher at Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. in Nutley, N.J.,
said the Rubinstein study "is an interesting result," but he cautioned that
other research is needed to confirm leptin's full effect on the body.
"It is a big jump to conclude from this study that leptin is a cause of
diabetes," he said. |
