April 27, 2016

New drug promising in the prevention of obesity

A new drug derived from a chemical found in olive oil appears to reduce the adverse effects of a high fat diet.  

Scientists at UOW have found a new drug that appears to prevent obesity in mice. 

The discovery, recently published in several journals including Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, could lead to new treatments that prevent diabetes in pre-diabetes patients and for those taking anti-psychotic medication, which is renowned for causing weight gain.

The drug, Bardoxolone methyl, is derived from a naturally occurring chemical called oleanolic acid, which is found in olive oil, garlic, Java apples and a number of different weeds and flowering plants. It has recently shown promising preliminary results in a phase II human clinical trial for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. 

Dr Danielle Camer, who will celebrate receiving her PhD (with the Examiners' Commendation for Outstanding Thesis) at the April graduation ceremonies on this week, conducted the research under the supervision of Professor Xu-Feng Huang and Dr Yinghua Yu at UOW’s Centre for Translational Neuroscience.

As part of her PhD research at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Dr Camer, a Wollongong local who completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts and Bachelor of Medical Science Honours at UOW before commencing her PhD, fed mice either a high fat diet or low fat diet for 21 weeks. One group of mice on the high fat diet were also given a daily dose of Bardoxolone methyl. 

“As you would expect, by the end of the experiment, the mice fed a high fat diet had a significantly higher body weight compared to the mice fed a low fat diet. 

“However, the mice fed a high fat diet and treated with Bardoxolone methyl had a similar weight to the mice fed a low fat diet.” 

The results showed those fed a high fat diet weighed twice as much as those given the drug. 

“This treatment not only prevented the development of obesity, it also prevented the development of obesity-induced complications such as cognitive deficits, insulin resistance, and organ damage (liver, kidneys and heart),” Dr Camer said, adding that in her study, the mice experienced no negative side effects.   

“We weren’t really expecting a result like this. It’s really exciting.” 

Professor Huang and his team are continuing to progress this research and hope to receive funding to conduct human trials, however, he noted that there has been some concern about the cardiovascular impact of the drug in a phase III clinical trial of patients with end stage renal disease. 

“Our results are very promising. While the mice in our trial experienced no negative side effects, other human clinical trails, in which the drugs were used to treat patients with end stage renal disease, showed a higher rate of heart-related adverse events.” 

“We hope to conduct more research into the safety of this drug and whether and how it could be used as a novel therapeutic for preventing diet-induced obesity.” 

With almost 2 in 3 Australian adults and 1 in 4 Australian children now overweight or obese, and rates are continuing to rise, Professor Huang said a treatment to prevent the adverse effects of obesity, such as diabetes, is desperately needed.