Process Developed for Delivering Appetite Control Hormone

(Genome.gov)

Researchers at Syracuse University in New York and Murdoch University in Australia have devised a method for binding an appetite-suppressing hormone to vitamin B12, a key step needed for delivering the hormone in gum or tablet form. Their process is described online in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (paid subscription required).

Syracuse chemistry professor Robert Doyle investigated the hormone hPYY(3–36), abbreviated PYY, part of a chemical system that regulates appetite and energy. When people eat or exercise, PYY is released into the bloodstream, with the amount of PYY released increasing as the number of calories are consumed. Past studies show obese people have lower levels of PYY in their blood than their non-obese counterparts, both after eating and when fasting.

PYY can be administered as an injection to control appetite and reduce calorie consumption, but as Doyle notes when taken orally, “the hormone is destroyed in the stomach and that which isn’t destroyed has difficulty crossing into the bloodstream through the intestines.” This research aimed at finding a way to deliver PYY so it can travel unharmed through the digestive system.

In his earlier work, Doyle developed a process for delivering insulin orally, using vitamin B12 as the vehicle, a method for which he has a patent pending. In this study, researchers used Doyle’s process to successfully transport PYY to the bloodstream in sufficient quantities to affect a person’s appetite.

The next step involves devising a process for adding the PYY/vitamin B12 compound into a dietary supplement taken as chewing gum or a tablet to control appetite, in much the same way as nicotine in gum helps reduce the urge to smoke. People using this product, says Doyle, “could eat a balanced meal, then chew a stick of gum. The PYY supplement would begin to kick in about three to four hours later, decreasing their appetite as they approach their next meal.”

Read more: Wearable Device Captures Food Intake, Lifestyle Patterns

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