Systematic molecular characterisation of compounds for prevention and therapy of obesity and insulin resistance

Coordinator:		Dr. Sascha Sauer
Institution:		Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik
Homepage:		www.molgen.mpg.de/

Obesity has become a global health problem of huge medical, social and economical impact. Obesity often causes a number of additional disorders such as insulin resistance, which eventually leads to type 2 diabetes. In spite of intensive research in the field, sustainable strategies to overcome these complex diseases are still out of sight. Now that some of the key genes and gene variants playing an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity have been identified, we started searching for strategies to exploit these genes favourably for prevention and therapy by use of innovative small molecules.
This project aimed for the high-throughput detection of natural products and in particular semi-synthetic analogues thereof interacting with functionally characterised key factors of obesity and related disorders.
Thereby, we identified a number of new molecules that we characterised in animal models. These molecules showed a promising potential for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes and other obesity-induced disorders. These new molecules shall be further evaluated for phytomedical and pharmaceutical development of obesity-induced insulin resistance.