A new way to combat obesity

Hanyang: Obesity is a serious problem in modern society. Nevertheless, it took a lot of time and effort to gradually develop its treatment methods within the pharmaceutical realm. According to Kim, “Fat is actually not much of a problem in contrast to what the general public believes. As a matter of fact, it is an efficient way to store excess energy. The real points to concentrate on are the numerous social and health issues that obesity entails.” He carries on suggesting that obesity, especially abdominal obesity needs to be addressed as soon as possible, not only in regards to its aesthetic issues, but also due to its high number of negative health-related ramifications. These complications include diabetes, which may even result in death.

“However, the problem is that existing treatments for obesity, Xenical and Reductil, are not truly sufficient for pharmaceutical use as they cause some side-effects, such as physical and mental discomforts as well as other serious complications,” Kim commented. He clarified his statement by explaining that the cause of these side-effects is that given medicine affects not only targeted genes that store fat, but also non-targeted genes which do not need the treatment. Thus, Kim and his team combined their efforts to develop a better delivery platform or carrier. Consequently, they discovered the Oligopeptide complex, which only targets particular ATS cells. This certain method has been proven not to have any side-effects on the patients to whom it was administered. In other words, the Oligopeptide complex is completely safe to use for medical purposes. Therefore, it could be said that this could potentially solve the problems related to obesity.
To further elaborate on the Oligopeptide complex, it is a combination of Adiopocyte Targeting Sequence Arginine (ATS-9R) and Fatty Acid-Binding Protein-4 Short Hairpin RND (shFABPs). ATS-9R has a distinct binding to fat vasculature and internalization, which subsequently improves the administration of the anti-obesity drug to the target genes. In addition, shRNA reduces the storage of excess fat by silencing fatty-acid-binding protein 4 (shFABP4). As reported in Kim’s paper, “Obese mice being injected and treated with ATS-9R/shFABP4 resulted in metabolic recovery and body-weight reduction.” Hence, the Oligopeptide complex could turn out to be a safe medical approach for humans to address the complications of obesity as well as other obesity-induced metabolic syndromes.
Although this discovery is likely to have numerous social impacts and benefits, it is too early to be sure. There are still many tests to run in order to guarantee the safety of the Oligopeptide complex. Kim stated, “It is necessary to move on steadily from small animals, like mice, to larger mammals during the process of animal experiments before progressing to clinical trials conducted on people. This whole process of testing itself takes approximately 10 years.” He also mentioned how all the resources spent on his findings will be worth it considering its vast medical and social benefits in regards to combating obesity. It is also helpful as it serves as a better carrier for anti-cancer drugs. “Despite the fact that the whole development procedure is expensive, it will be well worth it regarding its usefulness and will ultimately be profitable once proven,” Kim claimed.
Kim’s future goal is to make his technology available to the public as to share the fruits of his labor. He said, “It would be an honor, as a researcher, to see the technology I developed being used to aid the field of medicine.” Kim commented that he researched with a Korean proverb in mind, ko-jin-gam-rae (苦盡甘來), which means that the toils of labor may be bitter, yet the fruit it eventually bears is sweet. Kim concluded the interview with some advice for Hanyang University students. He emphasized mainly two points: the importance of learning English and the need to form a habit of reading papers. “It is vital to learn English since most of the academic medical terms are in English. Also students need as much background information as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to make it a habit of reading papers and articles so as to gain a wide range of knowledge. I too strive to achieve this and will continue to do so, thus, allowing me to realize my dream one step further,” Kim concluded.