Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have developed a new way to treat Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and other metabolic diseases by targeting a fat-related hormone.

In a study reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the researchers developed an antibody that improves glucose regulation and reduces fatty liver in obese mice by targeting the so-called aP2 hormone (also known as FABP4), tied to diabetes.

"The importance of this study is two-fold: first, demonstrating the importance of aP2 as a critical hormone in abnormal glucose metabolism, and secondly, showing that aP2 can be effectively targeted to treat diabetes and potentially other immunometabolic diseases," said Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, a professor of genetics and metabolism at Harvard.

The researchers noted that obesity is strongly linked to an increased risk for metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The new study confirms that fat tissue itself plays an active role in diabetes, in part by releasing hormones — such as aP2 — which act in distant sites such as the liver, muscle, and brain that affect metabolism.

Since aP2 levels are significantly increased in people with obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis, new treatments that knock down aP2 offer promise as new lines of therapies against these common and debilitating chronic diseases.