Article introduction and section with Dr. Feldman from National Geographic:
Ozempic and Mounjaro have another benefit: treating inflammation
A new study in mice shows that popular weight loss drugs can lower inflammation. What might this mean for the treatment of other diseases and neurodegenerative conditions?
Ozempic, which is delivered via injection, mimics a natural hormone made in the body that has a varied range of effects, including stimulating the release of insulin, slowing the digestion process, reducing appetite, and even blunting the brain’s interest in food.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAAP ARRIENS, NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
By Tara Haelle
“Ozempic, Mounjaro, and similar drugs have dominated headlines in recent years as research has shown how effective they are for treating type 2 diabetes and obesity. But a new study reveals this class of drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists, may also reduce inflammation throughout in the body. That finding suggests they may be useful for treating a wide range of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, or at least inspire research into new ways to treat neurodegenerative or autoimmune diseases.
The new study, published in Cell Metabolism in December, suggests that one major way the drugs work is by causing the brain to send signals to reduce inflammation throughout the body...
...Inflammation in the body
Drucker (senior author Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and University of Toronto in Canada) wanted to figure out how GLP-1 agonists reduce systemic inflammation in the body, as a decade of research has shown they do.
GLP-1 agonists act by triggering GLP-1 receptors, proteins on the surface of certain cells. When these receptors receive a signal from the GLP-1 hormone, it prompts the cell to complete all GLP-1 functions. Most of the cells with a lot of GLP-1 receptors are in the pancreas—the location of insulin producing cells—and in the brain, which curbs appetite and controls the body’s food reward system. But there are cells throughout the body that also have fewer GLP-1 receptors and respond to the hormone.
Despite recent trials showing that GLP-1 agonists reduce cardiovascular disease, the heart doesn’t have many GLP-1 receptors, Drucker says. Similarly, despite studies showing GLP-1 agonists improve liver and kidney disease, those organs don’t have loads of GLP-1 receptors either, raising questions about how GLP-1 agonist drugs have such significant effects on those organs.
White blood cells—inflammatory cells of the immune system—do have GLP-1 receptors, but “it was clear that GLP-1 agonists damped down inflammation likely more than was occurring just by their effect directly on white blood cells,” says Eva Feldman, a neurologist at the University of Michigan. There just aren’t enough GLP-1 receptors in white blood cells to account for how much these drugs reduced inflammation."