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GLP-1 and Amylin in the Treatment of Obesity

  • Pharmacologic Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (HE Lebovitz and G Bahtiyar, Section Editors)
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Abstract

For decades, extensive research has aimed to clarify the role of pancreas and gut-derived peptide hormones in the regulation of glucose homeostasis and feeding behavior. Among these are the beta-cell hormone amylin and the intestinal L cell hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). They exhibit distinct and yet several similar physiological actions including suppression of food intake, postprandial glucagon secretion, and gastric emptying—altogether lowering plasma glucose and body weight. These actions have been clinically exploited by the development of amylin and GLP-1 hormone analogs now used for treatment of diabetes and obesity. This review will outline the physiology and pharmacological potential of amylin and GLP-1, respectively, and focus on innovative peptide drug development leading to drugs acting on two or more distinct receptors, such as an amylin and GLP-1 peptide hybrid, potentially producing a more effective treatment strategy to combat the rapidly increasing global obesity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Diabetes Research, Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Kildegårdsvej 28, DK-2900, Hellerup, Denmark

    T. Jorsal, J. Rungby, F. K. Knop & T. Vilsbøll

  2. The NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    F. K. Knop

  3. Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    J. Rungby

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  1. T. Jorsal
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  2. J. Rungby
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  4. T. Vilsbøll
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Correspondence to T. Vilsbøll.

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Conflicts of Interest

T. Jorsal declares that she has no conflict of interest.

J. Rungby has received personal honoraria for consulting, lectures, and/or for advisory board participation within the last 36 months from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Janssen-Cilag, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi-Aventis and has received unrestricted research grants from Novo Nordisk and Merck.

F. K. Knop has received personal honoraria for consulting, lectures, and/or for advisory board participation within the last 36 months from AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead Sciences, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, Janssen, and Zealand Pharma and has received unrestricted research grants from AstraZeneca, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Sanofi-Aventis.

T. Vilsbøll has received personal honoraria for consulting, lectures and/or for advisory board participation within the last 36 months from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Janssen-Cilag, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, and Zealand Pharma and has received unrestricted research grants from Novo Nordisk and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pharmacologic Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

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Jorsal, T., Rungby, J., Knop, F.K. et al. GLP-1 and Amylin in the Treatment of Obesity. Curr Diab Rep 16, 1 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-015-0693-3

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