Curtin University Background
Metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity is increasing in global incidence at an unprecedented rate. Although a range of pharmaceutical and surgical treatments are available for the management of these conditions they are costly, and can have unpleasant side-effects.
In the early stages of metabolic conditions, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or prediabetes, symptoms may not be present and patients may not present to their physician.
Technology Overview
Research at Curtin University has shown a phospholipid called oleoyl-lysophosphatidylinositol (O-LPI) which is present in some types of food, strongly induces the release of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) a key signalling hormone in diabetes and obesity, from L-cells in the mucosa of the digestive tract. Harnessing the natural mechanism of release of GLP-1 is an effective approach to management of blood glucose levels and weight and is expected to have very low toxicity and no side effects.
A nutraceutical agent that can be easily and affordably taken everyday to manage metabolic symptoms is proposed as O-LPI is cost effective to produce at scale.
Stage of Development
Activity of O-LPI has been demonstrated in a GLP-1-release assay in both mouse GLUTag and STC-1, and human NCI-H716 cell models. .
O-LPI has a high efficacy in inducing GLP-1 secretion in all cell lines, especially when compared with oleoyl-ethanolamide (OEA) at 10 μM.
Analogs of O-LPI have shown no toxicity at the highest concentrations tested (100 μM) using a highly sensitive Zebrafish model.
O-LPI (10 mg/kg) administered orally induces the glucose-dependent release of GLP-1 in healthy mouse models.
Future studies will assess the long term metabolic impact of O-LPI in a mouse model of metabolic syndrome to compare with the commercially available anti diabetic drug Linagliptin, a DPP-IV inhibitor which indirectly increases GLP-1 and a combination of Linagliptin, and O-LPI to evaluate possible synergy.
Benefits
This nutraceutical agent is:
nontoxic and safe for daily administration
supported by biological data
easy to synthesise and cost effective for production at scale
suitable for human use.
Opportunity
Curtin is seeking development partners to collaborate in the development of new nutraceutical product under license.
This technology comes from researchers within the Molecular Signalling group at Curtin University, and they have an extensive track record collaborating with industry.