An appetite-stimulating protein to fight anorexia?

Anorexia is an eating disorder that most often begins in adolescence and in women. An appetite-stimulating protein could be a new treatment option.

𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐚 manifests itself as a refusal to eat normally over a long period of time, usually in order to lose weight or keep it off. Its prevalence is 1.4% in women and 0.2% in men. Diagnostic criteria are based on 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐱, 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐦. The absence of menstrual periods and slowed growth are also important indicators. Treatment mainly relies on medical and psychotherapeutic care, as well as nutritional education.

A study in mice recently published in the journal 𝑆𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒 showed encouraging results for a 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐜𝐲𝐥-𝐂𝐨𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 (𝐀𝐂𝐁𝐏). Indeed, levels of this protein are lower in patients suffering from severe anorexia. The researchers induced anorexia in 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 to produce ACBP after biotin exposure. Increased ACBP levels 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 in these animals. In addition, ACBP injections to non-genetically modified mice also counteracted anorexia symptoms.

As these data were obtained in animals, they are 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 in research in this direction, and eventual application in humans will require many more steps.