Gut hormone LEAP2 in metabolism and eating behaviour
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Gut hormone LEAP2 in metabolism and eating behaviour
IRAS ID
304210
Contact name
Tony Goldstone
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Obesity is a major health burden, with significant economic and societal impacts. After people lose weight, it is common for them to regain it over time. This is driven in part by hormones from the gut and fat cells in the body which act on the brain to influence eating behaviour. One such is ghrelin, that stimulates appetite, food intake and acts on the hunger and reward circuits in the brain. It increases in the blood when people fast or lose weight, and falls when they eat food or gain weight.
A new hormone called liver-enriched antimicrobial peptide 2 (LEAP2) was recently discovered, which is produced by the gut, and in animal studies blocks the action of ghrelin at its receptor. Blood levels of LEAP2 move in the opposite direction to ghrelin and may therefore be a potential treatment to help people lose weight initially or particularly to maintain their weight loss.
Our study, funded by the UK Medical Research Council, entitled, “Gut hormone LEAP2 in metabolism and eating behaviour”, will investigate the effects of LEAP2 by:
(i) giving to healthy participants without obesity, through a vein over several hours (vs. placebo water infusion), assessing safety, reducing appetite and amount eaten, and influence on blood levels of other hormones;
(ii) using functional MRI brain scanning, to see if it reduces brain activation when shown pictures of food, alcohol or stressful images, or play a game where points can be won towards money, food or alcohol rewards; and
(iii) measuring blood LEAP2 levels after eating meals of different sizes and its relationship with appetite.Therefore, this will recognise if targeting LEAP2 will help develop new medicines to treat obesity.
REC name
London - West London & GTAC Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0510
Date of REC Opinion
30 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion