In a study in mice by researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) at the Pasteur Institute and the University of Lille in France have found the possibility that we might be able to turn our immune system against fat.
Yes, fat.
An element of the immune system, cytokine interleukin-7 (IL-7), that is critical for maintaining the proper store of immune cells, also prevented the obesity-prone mice from getting fat.
These findings were reported at the recent the 6th International Congress of Neuroendocrinology (ICN 2006) in Pittsburgh.
The researchers used a common mouse model for obesity that involves inducing lesions in the hypothalamus--a part of the brain that regulates appetite--using a common food additive, monosodium glutamate (MSG). As expected, these mice packed on extra ounces--up to 28 percent of their normal body weight. Another set of mice was injected with a single infusion of IL-7 after being given MSG. Interestingly, these mice neither developed lesions nor did they gain weight.
According to doctoral student Laurence Macia and co-authors, the results indicate for the first time that IL-7 interacts with the hypothalamus, and moreover, this interaction is related to the brain's regulation of appetite. Perhaps the immune and neuroendocrine systems are more closely linked than previously thought, they conclude.
An IL-7 injection, anyone?
Who knows, it could be the next fad in weight loss.
Source: EurekAlert
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