Abstract
Commercial anti-obesity drugs acting in the gastrointestinal tract or the central nervous system have been shown to have limited efficacy and severe side effects. Anti-obesity drug development is thus focusing on targeting adipocytes that store excess fat. Here, we show that an adipocyte-targeting fusion-oligopeptide gene carrier consisting of an adipocyte-targeting sequence and 9-arginine (ATS-9R) selectively transfects mature adipocytes by binding to prohibitin. Injection of ATS-9R into obese mice confirmed specific binding of ATS-9R to fat vasculature, internalization and gene expression in adipocytes. We also constructed a short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) for silencing fatty-acid-binding protein 4 (shFABP4), a key lipid chaperone in fatty-acid uptake and lipid storage in adipocytes. Treatment of obese mice with ATS-9R/shFABP4 led to metabolic recovery and body-weight reduction (>20%). The ATS-9R/shFABP4 oligopeptide complex could prove to be a safe therapeutic approach to regress and treat obesity as well as obesity-induced metabolic syndromes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1157-1164 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Nature materials |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering