R01DK127274

Metabolic Benefits of Leptin Reduction - Abstract

Adipocytes have moved to center stage with respect to systemic metabolic control. They regulate metabolic homeostasis for a variety of tissues. Adipocytes achieve this regulation on the basis of their unsurpassed ability to store and neutralize excess lipids. Importantly, they interact with other critical organs through the use of adipokines. Leptin and adiponectin are the two most prominent factors that have been widely studied.

The availability of floxed versions of both genes encoding these factors has offered us the opportunity to eliminate both adipokines in the adult stage to varying degrees. Reducing leptin levels in adult obese animals has yielded a number of surprising findings. We recently published these findings in Cell Metabolism, in which we showed that a reduction in systemic leptin levels results in enhanced leptin and insulin sensitivity. In contrast, elevating leptin levels in a transgenic manner, by as little as 50%, results in further leptin and insulin resistance.

Here, we aim to better define the mechanistic aspects of this phenomenon. This includes:

A) Determining which anti-diabetic regimens rely on leptin-lowering effects to achieve their established actions;
B) Elucidating the signaling mechanisms underlying leptin sensitization upon reducing the ligand concentrations;
C) Gaining a firm understanding on the control of leptin production at the level of different fat-pads.

Our proposed experiments should provide significant new insights into leptin production and leptin action. We can address these questions with a series of new and unique mouse models that we recently generated. Specifically, we aim to:

I) Determine the effects of acute and chronic leptin reduction on peripheral leptin and insulin sensitivity. We will manipulate leptin receptor levels and downstream signaling mediators, obtain in vivo signaling information for both leptin and insulin signaling in real time, address sexually dimorphic responses to leptin reduction, and investigate the impact of adiponectin on leptin expression.

II) We will examine whether anti-diabetic interventions rely on leptin lowering prior to weight loss. Here, we will focus on a number of different established pharmacological agents for which we will "clamp" leptin levels transgenically at baseline levels during treatment, or further reduce leptin levels with neutralizing anti-leptin antibodies to enhance the effects of these agents.

III) We will assess whether the improvements in central leptin action that we established by lowering leptin levels require central leptin receptor action to achieve improved read-outs. If so, which subpopulation of neurons is critically involved in this process?

IV) Determine the critical mediators that govern leptin production and release, particularly in the visceral adipocyte. We will examine whether 3 and 2A adrenergic receptors regulate leptin levels in the mature adipocyte.

The Scherer/Elmquist team, with their respective expertise in adipose tissue and the hypothalamus, is strategically extremely well positioned to address these questions. Importantly, we will gain new insights that may have a profound effect on our understanding of leptin physiology specifically and metabolic homeostasis in general.

The University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

(1) TO PROMOTE EXTRAMURAL BASIC AND CLINICAL BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH THAT IMPROVES THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING DISEASE AND LEADS TO IMPROVED PREVENTIONS, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT OF DIABETES, DIGESTIVE, AND KIDNEY DISEASES. PROGRAMMATIC AREAS WITHIN THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES AND DIGESTIVE AND KIDNEY DISEASES INCLUDE DIABETES, DIGESTIVE, ENDOCRINE, HEMATOLOGIC, LIVER, METABOLIC, NEPHROLOGIC, NUTRITION, OBESITY, AND UROLOGIC DISEASES. SPECIFIC PROGRAMS AREAS OF INTEREST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: (A) FOR DIABETES, ENDOCRINE, AND METABOLIC DISEASES AREAS: FUNDAMENTAL AND CLINICAL STUDIES INCLUDING THE ETIOLOGY, PATHOGENESIS, PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND CURE OF DIABETES MELLITUS AND ITS COMPLICATIONS, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL FUNCTION OF THE PITUITARY, THYROID, PARATHYROID, ADRENAL, AND OTHER HORMONE SECRETING GLANDS, HORMONAL REGULATION OF BONE, ADIPOSE TISSUE, AND LIVER, ON FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION, INCLUDING THE ACTION OF HORMONES, COREGULATORS, AND CHROMATIN REMODELING PROTEINS, HORMONE BIOSYNTHESIS, SECRETION, METABOLISM, AND BINDING, AND ON HORMONAL REGULATION OF GENE EXPRESSION AND THE ROLE(S) OF SELECTIVE RECEPTOR MODULATORS AS PARTIAL AGONISTS OR ANTAGONISTS OF HORMONE ACTION, AND FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES RELEVANT TO METABOLIC DISORDERS INCLUDING MEMBRANE STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, AND TRANSPORT PHENOMENA AND ENZYME BIOSYNTHESIS, AND BASIC AND CLINICAL STUDIES ON THE ETIOLOGY, PATHOGENESIS, PREVENTION, AND TREATMENT OF INHERITED METABOLIC DISORDERS (SUCH AS CYSTIC FIBROSIS). (B) FOR DIGESTIVE DISEASE AND NUTRITION AREAS: GENETICS AND GENOMICS OF THE GI TRACT AND ITS DISEASES, GENETICS AND GENOMICS OF LIVER/PANCREAS AND DISEASES, GENETICS AND GENOMICS OF NUTRITION, GENETICS AND GENOMICS OF OBESITY, BARIATRIC SURGERY, CLINICAL NUTRITION RESEARCH, CLINICAL OBESITY RESEARCH, COMPLICATIONS OF CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE, FATTY LIVER DISEASE, GENETIC LIVER DISEASE, HIV AND LIVER, CELL INJURY, REPAIR, FIBROSIS AND INFLAMMATION IN THE LIVER, LIVER CANCER, LIVER TRANSPLANTATION, PEDIATRIC LIVER DISEASE, VIRAL HEPATITIS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, GASTROINTESTINAL AND NUTRITION EFFECTS OF AIDS, GASTROINTESTINAL MUCOSAL AND IMMUNOLOGY, GASTROINTESTINAL MOTILITY, BASIC NEUROGASTROENTEROLOGY, GASTROINTESTINAL DEVELOPMENT, GASTROINTESTINAL EPITHELIAL BIOLOGY, GASTROINTESTINAL INFLAMMATION, DIGESTIVE DISEASES EPIDEMIOLOGY AND DATA SYSTEMS, NUTRITIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGY AND DATA SYSTEMS, AUTOIMMUNE LIVER DISEASE, BILE, BILIRUBIN AND CHOLESTASIS, BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY RELATED TO DIGESTIVE DISEASES, LIVER, NUTRITION AND OBESITY, CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE LIVER, DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY AND REGENERATION, DRUG-INDUCED LIVER DISEASE, GALLBLADDER DISEASE AND BILIARY DISEASES, EXOCRINE PANCREAS BIOLOGY AND DISEASES, GASTROINTESTINAL NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY, GASTROINTESTINAL TRANSPORT AND ABSORPTION, NUTRIENT METABOLISM, PEDIATRIC CLINICAL OBESITY, CLINICAL TRIALS IN DIGESTIVE DISEASES, LIVER CLINICAL TRIALS, OBESITY PREVENTION AND TREATMENT, AND OBESITY AND EATING DISORDERS. (C) FOR KIDNEY, UROLOGIC AND HEMATOLOGIC DISEASES AREAS: STUDIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT, PHYSIOLOGY, AND CELL BIOLOGY OF THE KIDNEY, PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF THE KIDNEY, GENETICS OF KIDNEY DISORDERS, IMMUNE MECHANISMS OF KIDNEY DISEASE, KIDNEY DISEASE AS A COMPLICATION OF DIABETES, EFFECTS OF DRUGS, NEPHROTOXINS AND ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS ON THE KIDNEY, MECHANISMS OF KIDNEY INJURY REPAIR, IMPROVED DIAGNOSIS, PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE AND END-STAGE RENAL DISEASE, IMPROVED APPROACHES TO MAINTENANCE DIALYSIS THERAPIES, BASIC STUDIES OF LOWER URINARY TRACT CELL BIOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, PHYSIOLOGY, AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, CLINICAL STUDIES OF BLADDER DYSFUNCTION, INCONTINENCE, PYELONEPHRITIS, INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS, BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA, UROLITHIASIS, AND VESICOURETERAL REFLUX, DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS AND IMPROVED THERAPIES, INCLUDING TISSUE ENGINEERING STRATEGIES, FOR UROLOGIC DISORDERS,RESEARCH ON HEMATOPOIETIC CELL DIFFERENTIATION, METABOLISM OF IRON OVERLOAD AND DEFICIENCY, STRUCTURE, BIOSYNTHESIS AND GENETIC REGULATION OF HEMOGLOBIN, AS WELL AS RESEARCH ON THE ETIOLOGY, PATHOGENESIS, AND THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES FOR THE ANEMIA OF INFLAMMATION AND CHRONIC DISEASES. (2) TO ENCOURAGE BASIC AND CLINICAL RESEARCH TRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTISTS DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF THEIR CAREERS. THE RUTH L. KIRSCHSTEIN NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARD (NRSA) FUNDS BASIC AND CLINICAL RESEARCH TRAINING, SUPPORT FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT, AND THE TRANSITION FROM POSTDOCTORAL BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH TRAINING TO INDEPENDENT RESEARCH RELATED TO DIABETES, DIGESTIVE, ENDOCRINE, HEMATOLOGIC, LIVER, METABOLIC, NEPHROLOGIC, NUTRITION, OBESITY, AND UROLOGIC DISEASES. (3) TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM. THE SBIR PROGRAM AIMS TO INCREASE AND FACILITATE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO ENHANCE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. (4) TO UTILIZE THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM. THE STTR PROGRAM INTENDS TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.847 - Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) [HHS - NIH]

Texas United States

State-Wide

NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PA-20-185)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 535% from $670,501 to $4,257,086.