The 'Tyranny of choices' in the ingestion-controlling network.
BACKGROUND
Currently used antiobesity remedies offer only a modest weight reduction, and have untoward effects that can complicate treatment efforts. Motivated by the needs of the pharmacotherapy of obesity, the study explored the role of neuropeptide Y, leptin, and corticotrophin-releasing hormone.


METHODS
The study used Ingenuity Pathway Analysis which is a tool for automated discovery and visualization of molecular interactions.


RESULTS
In ingestion-controlling networks, neuropeptide Y, leptin, and corticotrophin-releasing hormone molecules are commonly combined into the units designated as 'maximal motifs'. The analysis of this triad allowed suggesting that maximal motifs are not more than a compendium of admission rules and transmission alternatives of their nodes catalogued in the dataset. Nonetheless, these options seem to endow them with the flexibility needed to respond dynamically as a functional unit to changing internal (metabolic) conditions or environmental challenges.


CONCLUSIONS
Thus far, each peptide represents a separate target for pharmaceutical interventions (as judged by US patents scanned). The study concludes with predictions regarding designs of 'multitargeted' antiobesity agents since only by hitting a combination of targets can an appropriate therapeutic effect be achieved.
Myslobodsky
Michael
M
Howard University Graduate School, Washington, DC, and Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, NIMH/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D016208:Databases, Factual; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000378:metabolism; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019338:Polypharmacy
D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents; D020738:Leptin; D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone