WELLINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A team of New Zealand and international researchers have discovered how a gene regulates human appetite and bodyweight, raising hopes for new and effective treatments for obesity.

The finding of a gene that controls expression of the Melanocortin 4 Receptor (MC4R), which plays a pivotal role in regulating appetite and bodyweight, could help diagnose and treat people whose obesity is caused by gene mutation, the researchers from the University of Auckland said on Friday.

More than two decades of human genetic data showed mutation in a particular gene was associated with obesity, and the team found this was because it controlled a second gene, causing appetite and bodyweight changes in mice. When they modified the first gene in mice to have the same mutation found in a child with severe obesity, the mice ate more and became obese, but could be treated by medication targeting the second gene, the study showed.

"It will be a challenge, but it offers a potential way of treating obesity in the general population," said Kathy Mountjoy, who researches molecular medicine and pathology at the University of Auckland, also the co-author of the study published in the Science Translational Medicine.

Subtle changes in the gene can cause obesity, which showed that the amount of the MC4 receptor that is expressed is important in regulating appetite and bodyweight, Mountjoy said, adding drug companies have attempted to target the MC4 receptor for years to find molecules that could activate it to treat obesity, but the drugs they have discovered have had unwanted side effects. Enditem

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