Melanocortin-4 Receptor (MC4R) Agonists for the Treatment of Obesity

摘要

Of the obesity targets currently being pursued in academia and in industry,rodent and human genetic data and pharmacological results from several rodent obesity models provide a high degree of target validation for the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R).MC4R is widely distributed throughout the brain.This distribution pattern correlates with brain sites displaying high sensitivity to melanocortin-regulated feeding behavior.The ligands for MC4R are also expressed in the hypothalamus,within leptin-responsive neurons in the arcuate nucleus where their expression is regulated by alterations in energy balance.