Natriuretic peptide dysregulation in diabetes responded to pioglitazone

Previous animal and laboratory studies have shown that cardiac NPs, key hormones in cardiorenal homeostasis, also activate thermogenic brown fat gene expression patterns to increase energy expenditure in adipocytes, Collins and colleagues said. Overall our results suggest that drugs that target the pathway(s) that lead to increased NP levels may be a new way to treat metabolic disorders, including obesity, insulin resistance, and potentially type 2 diabetes," Collins said in a statement. "Since we already have access to FDA approved drugs to control blood sugar, and we know that these drugs impact NP levels, we may be able to redesign these drugs to specifically target other metabolic conditions including obesity." http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Obesity/56301