Asthma drug reverses obesity and diabetes in mice (w/pic of a fat mouse not named Mickey)

[The Straight Story]

Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Life Sciences Institute have found that amlexanox, an off-patent drug used to treat asthma and canker sores, can also reduce obesity, diabetes and fatty liver disease in mice.

The team led by Life Sciences Institute director, Alan Saltiel, focused on the impact that the drug amlexanox has on the genes IKKE and TBK1 in mice. This followed on from research the Saltiel lab published in Cell Magazine in 2009 suggesting a link between the genes, obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes. Saltiel maintains IKKE and TBK1 play a crucial role maintaining "metabolic balance."

Professor Saltiel explains that IKKE and TBK1 are part of a process of inflammation linked to obesity and insulin resistance, the condition that precedes Type 2 diabetes.

“The basic story is that IKKE and TBK1 are elevated in obesity due to the generation of inflammation, and in turn are involved in repressing adaptive energy expenditure and producing insulin resistance,’’ Professor Saltiel told Gizmag.

http://www.gizmag.com/genes-obesity-mice-university-of-michigan/26200/

[NV Whino]

1. ... But the mouse still has asthema.

[The Straight Story]

2. These two were also spotted in the lab:

[NV Whino]

3. !