Medicines such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro have changed the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
These medicines copy the actions of natural hormones called incretins, mainly GLP-1 and GIP, which help control appetite, slow stomach emptying, improve insulin release, and lower blood sugar.
Many people lose significant weight while taking these medicines, but there is one major drawback. Most require regular injections or pills because the drugs break down quickly inside the body. If treatment stops, weight and blood sugar often begin to rise again.
Researchers at The Wistar Institute believe they may have found a way to make these treatments last much longer. Their study, published in Trends in Biotechnology, describes a new DNA-based delivery system that turned the body into a factory capable of making its own long-lasting incretin-like proteins after just one treatment.
Instead of repeatedly injecting the medicine itself, the scientists injected a small circular piece of DNA called a plasmid. This DNA does not change a person’s genes.
Instead, it simply provides temporary instructions that tell muscle cells how to make a therapeutic protein. After the injection, a brief electrical pulse, called electroporation, helped the DNA enter the cells where the instructions could be read.
The idea was built on earlier research from the same laboratory. Previous human studies showed that similar DNA technology could help the body continuously produce protective antibodies against COVID-19 for more than 72 weeks.
Encouraged by those results, the researchers wondered whether the same platform could be used to make long-lasting metabolic medicines.
The team designed special DNA instructions for long-acting versions of GLP-1 and GIP, which they named pLincretins. They also added an antibody fragment that helped protect the proteins from being broken down too quickly.
When tested in mice with diabetes, a single treatment produced detectable hormone levels for up to 70 days. During that time the animals maintained lower blood sugar and lost weight.
The scientists also compared the new approach with semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. Mice receiving semaglutide improved while treatment continued, but they began regaining weight after dosing stopped.
In contrast, mice receiving the DNA treatment continued showing benefits throughout the observation period because their own cells kept producing the therapeutic proteins.
The researchers then created another engineered protein called pSynCretin. Using artificial intelligence and protein design techniques, they combined useful features from GLP-1, GIP and existing medicines into one new molecule that could activate both hormone receptors at the same time. A single treatment also produced long-lasting weight loss in mice.
The researchers believe this platform could eventually be used for many diseases requiring repeated protein treatments. They are also studying whether incretin therapies influence inflammation, arthritis, psoriasis, cancer, and immune function, because recent clinical observations suggest these medicines may have benefits beyond weight loss.
Although the findings are exciting, they are still at the preclinical stage. The experiments were performed in mouse models, not people. Human biology is much more complex, and many promising animal treatments fail during clinical trials.
Scientists must still determine the long-term safety, effectiveness, dosing, immune responses, and durability in humans before this technology could become available.
The research was published in Trends in Biotechnology.
This study represents an innovative approach because it changes how medicines are delivered rather than simply creating another GLP-1 drug. If successful in human trials, it could improve patient convenience, reduce missed doses, and potentially lower healthcare costs.
However, it is important not to assume that one injection will replace current medicines anytime soon. Extensive clinical testing is still required. Even so, the work opens an exciting new direction for treating obesity, diabetes, and possibly many other chronic diseases.
If you care about weight, please read studies about diet that can treat fatty liver disease, obesity, and hop extract could reduce belly fat in overweight people.
For more information about weight, please see recent studies about how to curb your cravings for ready-to-eat foods, and results showing what you can eat to speed your metabolism up.
Source: The Wistar Institute.
