Study : Obesity could be treated with a common migraine drug”

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A study finds that obesity could be treated with a common migraine drug, i.e., common migraine medications may also help weight loss.

Triptan, a commonly prescribed migraine medication, may be useful for treating obesity, according to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

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Study leader Dr Chen Liu, an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern, said that, “We’ve shown that there is real potential to repurpose these drugs, which are already known to be safe, for appetite suppression and weight loss.”

Over a 7-week period, researchers from UT Southwestern tested 6 prescription triptans on obese mice that were being fed a high-fat diet.

The amount of food eaten by mice when given 2 triptans was roughly the same as before. But mice who were given the other 4 triptans ate less.

Scientists report that after taking a daily dose of triptan, a group of obese mice ate up less food and lost weight over the course of a month.

According to their report, after 24 days, mice given frovatriptan lost an average of 3.6% of their body weight, while mice that were not given triptan gained 5.1% of their body weight on average.  

Scientists have long known that the chemical messenger serotonin influences appetite. They have yet to determine the role of each serotonin receptor because there are 15 serotonin receptors.

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Furthermore, earlier weight-gain medications, such as fen-phen and lorcaserin, were withdrawn from the market due to side effects.  However, for the study, researchers engineered mice lacking Htr1b or Htr2c, the serotonin receptor targeted by fen-phen and lorcaserin.

As a result of this, they concluded that triptan worked by targeting the serotonin 1B receptor.

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Dr Liu said that, "We found that these drugs, in particular one, can reduce body weight and improve glucose metabolism in less than a month, which is pretty impressive.  This discovery could be important for drug development."

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Dr Liu continued,  “We not only shed light on the potential to repurpose existing triptans but also brought attention to Htr1b as a candidate to treat obesity and regulate food intake.”

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Obesity is known to increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and even certain cancers.  Obesity currently affects more than 41% of adults in the US.  By 2030, one billion people worldwide will be obese, according to the World Obesity Atlas, published in March.

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