Boosting levels of protein ACBP spurred the mice to eat and gain weight. It is unclear if any drugs based on the protein might help people with anorexia.
Mice with lack of appetite and weight loss — symptoms similar to people with anorexia — that were genetically tweaked to secrete a protein called ACBP. The finding points to a potential treatment target for people with the eating disorder.
Previous work has shown that ACBP levels tend to be lower in patients with more severe anorexia. In the new work, Hui Chen of Sorbonne University in Paris and colleagues used chronic stress or chemotherapy to induce anorexia in mice, robbing the animals of appetite and causing weight loss. The animals were genetically modified to release ACBP when exposed to biotin, a form of vitamin B. As their ACBP levels went up, animals stopped losing weight and had better appetites, the team found.
What the results mean for people is unclear. The team took plasma samples from patients hospitalized with severe anorexia and found those with lower ACBP levels than average were more likely to relapse a month later than patients with higher levels. But there was enough variability among patients to make it difficult to know who might benefit from receiving a theoretical ACBP-based drug, says Tim Moran, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
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