Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

4-12-2019

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-019-08737-6

PMID

30979869

PMCID

PMC6461669

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

4-12-2019

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Hypothalamic neurons expressing the anorectic peptide Pro-opiomelanocortin (Pomc) regulate food intake and body weight. Here, we show that Steroid Receptor Coactivator-1 (SRC-1) interacts with a target of leptin receptor activation, phosphorylated STAT3, to potentiate Pomc transcription. Deletion of SRC-1 in Pomc neurons in mice attenuates their depolarization by leptin, decreases Pomc expression and increases food intake leading to high-fat diet-induced obesity. In humans, fifteen rare heterozygous variants in SRC-1 found in severely obese individuals impair leptin-mediated Pomc reporter activity in cells, whilst four variants found in non-obese controls do not. In a knock-in mouse model of a loss of function human variant (SRC-1L1376P), leptin-induced depolarization of Pomc neurons and Pomc expression are significantly reduced, and food intake and body weight are increased. In summary, we demonstrate that SRC-1 modulates the function of hypothalamic Pomc neurons, and suggest that targeting SRC-1 may represent a useful therapeutic strategy for weight loss.

Keywords

Alleles, Animals, Body Weight, Cell Line, Tumor, Crosses, Genetic, Gene Deletion, Gene Knock-In Techniques, Genetic Variation, HEK293 Cells, Heterozygote, Homeostasis, Humans, Hypothalamus, Leptin, Male, Membrane Potentials, Mice, Mice, Transgenic, Mutation, Missense, Neurons, Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 1, Obesity, Phenotype

Published Open-Access

yes

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.