Journal Club - Asprosin best treatment for metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome increases a person's risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, and includes conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. In a recent mouse-model study, published in Cell Metabolism, researchers at University Hospitals (UH), Harrington Discovery Institute at UH, and Case Western Reserve University have furthered their progress to develop a drug to treat metabolic syndrome by identifying a receptor that controls appetite and body weight.

Asprosin stimulates appetite by activating key "hunger" neurons of the brain, called AgRP neurons. Asprosin works by binding a protein on the neuron surface called a "receptor." To better understand how receptors work, one might use a key and lock analogy, where a hormone is a key, and its receptor is the lock.

The identity of the receptor that allows asprosin to activate AgRP neurons and stimulate appetite was previously a mystery, and this gap in knowledge was a barrier to fully understanding how this hormone works.

Since the discovery of asprosin, many studies have shown that blood asprosin levels are elevated in patients with metabolic syndrome, leading to weight gain and high blood sugar. The research team has also seen that reduced blood asprosin levels lead to protection from metabolic syndrome by suppressing appetite and blood sugar.

The team also plans to study intracellular mechanisms involved in asprosin-protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor d signaling, and simultaneously develop the Ptprd receptor trap for potential use in patients with metabolic syndrome.