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Associate Professor Ana Domingos reviews the identification of the hormone leptin and explores its significance in the function of immune cells in obesity.

 

Leptin resistance is the main culprit of common obesity. - Prof Domingos

Domingos mice

Associate Professor Ana Domingos trained in the laboratory of our inaugural Sir Hans Krebs Award Lecture speaker, Dr Jeffrey Friedman, where the hormone leptin, a key regulator of fat mass, was discovered. In a new review published in Nature Reviews Immunology, Prof Domingos reports how leptin was first identified and the significant advances this discovery has enabled for research into obesity.

 

The discovery of leptin represented a paradigm shift at a time when mechanistic models of obesity were restricted to voluntary control of food intake and exercise. - Prof Domingos

Prof Domingos goes on to suggest that immunometabolic models of obesity would benefit from an increased focus on the contribution of leptin.

The full review "Leptin: a missing piece in the immunometabolism puzzle" is available to read in Nature Reviews Immunology.

 

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