肥胖基因与眼睛疾病有关
http://www.100md.com
2000年11月13日
BALTIMORE (Reuters Health) - Leptin, the ``obesity hormone,'' may also play a role in diabetes-related eye disease, researchers report.
Leptin is produced by fat cells and other tissue, and is thought to signal the brain to reduce appetite when fat stores are at peak level. In a new study of 73 people with and without diabetes, those who had higher leptin levels in the eye were more likely to have diabetic retinopathy, an eyesight-damaging condition.
``Leptin may be one of several molecules that act together to cause diabetic retinopathy, an eye condition sometimes experienced by people with diabetes that can result in blindness,'' Dr. Ray Gariano told Reuters Health. ``Leptin's role in this process may help encourage other investigations into its action in the body outside of appetite, weight regulation and obesity.''
Gariano, from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues found that the more severe the eye disease, the higher the leptin level. The study is reported in the current issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.
Gariano suggested that leptin may be related to eye disease because it causes blood vessels to grow. ``We know that abnormal blood vessel growth occurs in more advanced stages of diabetic eye disease, and our study supports this idea,'' he said.
Leptin is currently being investigated as a target for drugs that might help people control their weight. However, most obese people have too much leptin, not too little. Many people appear to lose their sensitivity to the hormone, so studies suggest that merely giving leptin to overweight people will probably not spur weight loss.
According to Gariano, leptin-based therapies might be useful for interrupting diabetic eye disease.
``Presently, there is no therapy for eye disease based on the findings in our paper,'' Gariano said. ``However, our work is part of a larger effort to identify the many different molecules that combine to cause diabetic eye disease, in the hope that we may eventually develop more complete and specific drugs to prevent the disease.''
SOURCE: Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science November 2000., 百拇医药
Leptin is produced by fat cells and other tissue, and is thought to signal the brain to reduce appetite when fat stores are at peak level. In a new study of 73 people with and without diabetes, those who had higher leptin levels in the eye were more likely to have diabetic retinopathy, an eyesight-damaging condition.
``Leptin may be one of several molecules that act together to cause diabetic retinopathy, an eye condition sometimes experienced by people with diabetes that can result in blindness,'' Dr. Ray Gariano told Reuters Health. ``Leptin's role in this process may help encourage other investigations into its action in the body outside of appetite, weight regulation and obesity.''
Gariano, from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues found that the more severe the eye disease, the higher the leptin level. The study is reported in the current issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.
Gariano suggested that leptin may be related to eye disease because it causes blood vessels to grow. ``We know that abnormal blood vessel growth occurs in more advanced stages of diabetic eye disease, and our study supports this idea,'' he said.
Leptin is currently being investigated as a target for drugs that might help people control their weight. However, most obese people have too much leptin, not too little. Many people appear to lose their sensitivity to the hormone, so studies suggest that merely giving leptin to overweight people will probably not spur weight loss.
According to Gariano, leptin-based therapies might be useful for interrupting diabetic eye disease.
``Presently, there is no therapy for eye disease based on the findings in our paper,'' Gariano said. ``However, our work is part of a larger effort to identify the many different molecules that combine to cause diabetic eye disease, in the hope that we may eventually develop more complete and specific drugs to prevent the disease.''
SOURCE: Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science November 2000., 百拇医药
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