A novel peptide protects against diet-induced obesity by suppressing appetite and modulating the gut microbiota

Objective The obesity epidemic and its metabolic complications continue to be a major global public health threat with limited effective treatments, especially drugs that can be taken orally. Peptides are a promising class of molecules that have gained increased interest for their applications in medicine and biotechnology. In this study, we focused on looking for peptides that can be administrated orally to treat obesity and exploring its mechanisms. Design Here, a 9-amino-acid peptide named D3 was designed and administered orally to germ-free (GF) mice and wild-type (WT) mice, rats and macaques. The effects of D3 on body weight and other basal metabolic parameters were evaluated. The effects of D3 on gut microbiota were evaluated using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. To identify and confirm the mechanisms of D3, transcriptome analysis of ileum and molecular approaches on three animal models were performed. Results A significant body weight reduction was observed both in WT (12%) and GF (9%) mice treated with D3. D3 ameliorated leptin resistance and upregulated the expression of uroguanylin (UGN), which suppresses appetite via the UGN-GUCY2C endocrine axis. Similar effects were also found in diet-induced obese rat and macaque models. Furthermore, the abundance of intestinal Akkermansia muciniphila increased about 100 times through the IFNγ-Irgm1 axis after D3 treatment, which may further inhibit fat absorption by downregulating Cd36. Conclusion Our results indicated that D3 is a novel drug candidate for counteracting diet-induced obesity as a non-toxic and bioactive peptide. Targeting the UGN-GUCY2C endocrine axis may represent a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of obesity.