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Title: Leptin injections induce weight loss

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New Engl J Med September 1999
09/29/1999
By Elda Hauschildt

Injections of the hormone leptin have helped curb the appetite of a severely overweight, nine year-old girl. The child, who weighed 208 pounds, lost 36 pounds over a one-year period. Leptin hit the headlines four years ago when a research team at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, England, discovered the hormone could induce weight loss in mice. This study is the first to confirm that the hormone might also work in humans. Leptin is a protein produced by fat cells and it is thought it signals the brain when to stop eating. Scientists are trying to understand why the signal is missed in some people and to use leptin in treatment for the obese. The nine year old has a rare genetic defect and her body produces almost no leptin. She was so obese that doctors performed liposuction on her legs when she was six to help increase her ability to move around. The girl was constantly hungry and disruptive when she was not fed. The girl was started on a regimen of daily injections of leptin in 1997. Her appetite decreased within a week, and at the end of a year she had lost the 36 pounds, ninety-five percent of which was fat. Researchers hope that their new findings have implications for the general population.

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