Jandacek Ronald J, Woods Stephen C
Department of Pathology, University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA.
Drug Discov Today. 2004 Oct 15;9(20):874-80. doi: 10.1016/S1359-6446(04)03244-1.
The recent increase in pharmaceutical companies' efforts toward the treatment of obesity reflects recognition of the related health risks, the growth of knowledge about mechanisms that control energy balance, and the potential market for new compounds. The current patent literature gives a picture of the targets that are available for pharmaceutical intervention; these include signals of satiety and signals related to fat storage that act in the hypothalamus. The regulation of energy use and storage in adipocytes and the reduction of intestinal absorption of energy are also pharmaceutical focus areas. The multiplicity of targets illustrates not only the many potential approaches to the treatment of obesity but also the complexity and redundancy of the processes that regulate energy storage in the body.
制药公司近期在肥胖症治疗方面加大投入，这反映出对相关健康风险的认识、关于控制能量平衡机制的知识增长以及新化合物的潜在市场。当前的专利文献展示了可用于药物干预的靶点；这些靶点包括在下丘脑中起作用的饱腹感信号和与脂肪储存相关的信号。脂肪细胞中能量利用和储存的调节以及肠道能量吸收的减少也是药物关注的领域。靶点的多样性不仅说明了治疗肥胖症有许多潜在方法，也体现了调节身体能量储存过程的复杂性和冗余性。
