A study by researchers at Northwest A&F University in China has found that the anti-tumor drug, camptothecin (CPT) promotes weight loss in mice at low doses by activating a natural hunger-suppressing pathway. The study, headed by Jiang Wei Wu, PhD, could point to a therapeutic strategy for obesity through the induction of growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15).
“We believe our results convincingly argue that camptothecin may have therapeutic benefits for obesity and its associated metabolic disorders,” Wu said. “Further study is needed to evaluate its efficacy and safety in advanced models to increase the translational impact.”
