You may not think that the wellbeing of asthma patients and diabetics go hand-in-hand but a new study has found that the two are more connected than you realise. According to researchers at the University of Michigan’s Life Sciences Institute, amlexanox, an off-patent drug currently prescribed for the treatment of asthma and other uses, reversed diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver in mice.
The results came from the lab of Alan Saltiel, the Mary Sue Coleman director of the Life Sciences Institute, who said, ‘One of the reasons that diets are so ineffective in producing weight loss for some people is that their bodies adjust to the reduced calories by also reducing their metabolism, so that they are ‘defending’ their body weight. Amlexanox seems to tweak the metabolic response to excessive calorie storage in mice.’
The drug is currently used in Japan as an asthma treatment, and also in the US for canker sores. Saltiel’s next step is to team-up with others at the University who specialise in clinical trials, to see whether or not amlexanox will be useful for treating humans whose wellness is affected by diabetes and obesity. He is also working with the University’s medical chemists to develop an amlexanox-based compound that optimises the formula of the drug.
In the journal Cell in 2009, the Saltiel lab published the notion that the genes IKKE and TBK1 play a crucial role for maintaining metabolic balance. Now, this study, published online in the journal Nature Medicine, appears to confirm and extend this notion. Saltiel explained, ‘Amlexanox appears to work in mice by inhibiting two genes – IKKE and TBK1 – that we think together act as a sort of brake on metabolism. By releasing the brake, amlexanox seems to free the metabolic system to burn more, and possibly store less, energy.’
He continued, ‘These studies tell us that, at least in mice, the IKKE/TBK1 pathway plays an important role in defending body weight by increasing storage and decreasing burning of calories, and that by inhibiting that pathway with a compound, we can increase metabolism and induce weight loss, reverse diabetes and reduce fatty liver.’ Though it is unclear whether humans respond with the same pathway, or if the discovery of amlexanox’s effectiveness in mice can lead to a compound that is safe and effective for treating obesity and diabetes in humans, Saltiel promised, ‘We will be working hard on that.’
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