Project summary
Proteins, called GPCRs, play a role in controlling appetite and blood sugar levels. Dr Thompson wants to understand how the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes changes GPCR chemistry in the brain. Knowing this could help scientists to develop treatments that act on GPCRs to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, giving people living with or at risk of these conditions new, urgently needed treatment options.
Background to research
Living with obesity or overweight increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Eating a healthy diet and being active are important tools that can help people to maintain a healthy weight and manage type 2 diabetes. But millions of people with or at risk of diabetes find losing weight with diet and exercise alone a huge struggle.
To find new treatments, scientists need to better understand the biological changes behind the development of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
A family of proteins found on the surface of brain cells, called GPCRs, are involved in controlling appetite and blood sugar levels. Dr Dawn Thompson has found that when GPCRs don’t work as they should in mice, the mice can develop obesity and high blood sugar levels.
Research aims
Dr Thompson will work with her PhD student to examine how obesity and type 2 diabetes are linked to altered GPCR levels in the brain. They hope their discoveries could help to develop new drugs to treat the conditions.
The researchers will study mice with obesity and type 2 diabetes, fed with either a standard diet or a diet high in fat and sugar. They’ll look for changes in brain GPCR levels that happen after eating a high-fat diet. They want to identify which particular GPCR proteins are altered and unravel how these changes could drive the development of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
These insights will tell them exactly where new drugs should target to help with weight loss and blood sugar control. It could also bring to light if any existing drugs that work on GPCRs could be used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Potential benefit to people with diabetes
This project hopes to reveal how drugs could be developed to alter brain chemistry to treat people living with or at risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Supporting people to get to a healthy weight is key to preventing type 2 diabetes. New and better treatments that help with weight loss and blood sugar control would also be transformative for people living with obesity and type 2 diabetes, helping to reduce their risk of serious health complications.
In the future, it’s hoped drugs that work on GPCRs might also help people newly diagnosed with type 2 go into remission.
