Leptin in Human Energy and Neuroendocrine Homeostasis
Summary
Previous work in our laboratory, and many others, has shown that body weight is regulated. When anyone, fat or thin, tries to maintain a reduced body weight, many systems affecting energy balance (skeletal muscle, neuroendocrine, and autonomic systems) conspire to slow metabolic rate thus favoring the regain of lost weight. Individuals with leptin deficiency are remarkably similar to weight-reduced individuals. Their metabolism, thyroid hormones, and sympathetic nervous system activity are all low despite their obesity. While administration of leptin to leptin-deficient humans results in substantial weight loss and increases in energy expenditure. However, leptin administration to leptin-sufficient humans at usual body weight has little or no effect on weight unless given in doses 10-20 times what would be considered to be in the normal physiological range. This study examines the hypothesis that leptin is "read" by various systems regulating energy balance as an indicator of how much energy we have stored and that the body perceives the weight-reduced state as a condition of relative leptin insufficiency. Within this model, restoration of leptin to levels present prior to weight loss should relieve much of the metabolic opposition to keeping weight off. Preliminary studies support this hypothesis.
Timeline
- Start
- 2002-07
- Primary completion
- 2013-07
- Completion
- 2013-07
Publications
- Background Rosenbaum M, Goldsmith R, Bloomfield D, Magnano A, Weimer L, Heymsfield S, Gallagher D, Mayer L, Murphy E, Leibel RL. Low-dose leptin reverses skeletal muscle, autonomic, and neuroendocrine adaptations to maintenance of reduced weight. J Clin Invest. 2005 Dec;115(12):3579-86. doi: 10.1172/JCI25977.
- Background Rosenbaum M, Murphy EM, Heymsfield SB, Matthews DE, Leibel RL. Low dose leptin administration reverses effects of sustained weight-reduction on energy expenditure and circulating concentrations of thyroid hormones. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2002 May;87(5):2391-4. doi: 10.1210/jcem.87.5.8628.
- Background Baldwin KM, Joanisse DR, Haddad F, Goldsmith RL, Gallagher D, Pavlovich KH, Shamoon EL, Leibel RL, Rosenbaum M. Effects of weight loss and leptin on skeletal muscle in human subjects. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2011 Nov;301(5):R1259-66. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00397.2011. Epub 2011 Sep 14.
- Background Hinkle W, Cordell M, Leibel R, Rosenbaum M, Hirsch J. Effects of reduced weight maintenance and leptin repletion on functional connectivity of the hypothalamus in obese humans. PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e59114. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059114. Epub 2013 Mar 21.
- Background Rosenbaum M, Leibel RL. 20 years of leptin: role of leptin in energy homeostasis in humans. J Endocrinol. 2014 Oct;223(1):T83-96. doi: 10.1530/JOE-14-0358. Epub 2014 Jul 25.
- Background Page-Wilson G, Reitman-Ivashkov E, Meece K, White A, Rosenbaum M, Smiley RM, Wardlaw SL. Cerebrospinal fluid levels of leptin, proopiomelanocortin, and agouti-related protein in human pregnancy: evidence for leptin resistance. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Jan;98(1):264-71. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2309. Epub 2012 Nov 1.
- Background Kissileff HR, Thornton JC, Torres MI, Pavlovich K, Mayer LS, Kalari V, Leibel RL, Rosenbaum M. Leptin reverses declines in satiation in weight-reduced obese humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Feb;95(2):309-17. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.012385. Epub 2012 Jan 11.
- Results Rosenbaum M, Goldsmith RL, Haddad F, Baldwin KM, Smiley R, Gallagher D, Leibel RL. Triiodothyronine and leptin repletion in humans similarly reverse weight-loss-induced changes in skeletal muscle. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2018 Nov 1;315(5):E771-E779. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00116.2018. Epub 2018 Jun 19.
Drugs
| Evaluation | Drug | Modality | Dose | Route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Leptin | Protein / enzyme biologic | — | Subcutaneous |