Pilar Pérez Madrid

Madrid

Updated Wednesday, March 27, 2024-01:46

  • The 'Ozempic generation' Obesity figures are skyrocketing in our country

Through a study based on

artificial intelligence

, a group of Spanish researchers have

identified two plant compounds

with potential as

GLP-1 agonist diet pills

. The results will be presented at the European scientific event that addresses the latest developments in obesity (ECO 2024), in May.

Semaglutide and tirzepatide, better known to ordinary people as 'ozempic', 'saxenda', 'wegoby' and company, are glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and have been shown to be very effective. to help people lose weight. This is because they mimic the action of a hormone called GLP-1 and by binding to and activating the GLP-1 receptor on cells, they reduce appetite and feelings of hunger, slow the release of food from the stomach, and increase feelings of hunger. of satiety after eating.

Elena Murcia

, from the Structural Bioinformatics and High Performance Computing Research Group (BIO-HPC) and Eating Disorders Research Unit of the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), explains to EL MUNDO how they have carried out this search for alternatives to the 'ozempic', because "

we were interested in finding natural alternatives

."

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"We looked for them to have an affinity to bind to the GLP-1 receptor, acting as its agonists, with the capacity to activate these receptors." To do this, he clarifies that "we have taken as reference two synthetic agonists of the GLP-1 receptor, and we have carried out

analyzes based on computational chemistry techniques

, in order to select those natural compounds with greater similarity."

In this sense,

two compounds with similar characteristics to two other synthetics still in the study phase

have been the winning options. "These are two promising non-peptide compounds," says the researcher. Compound A and Compound B, as she calls them for confidentiality and patent reasons, are derived from very common plants, whose extracts have been associated in the past with beneficial effects on human metabolism.

When will these new natural compounds be available?

At the moment they are only ideas outlined in the laboratory, because they have all the preclinical and clinical validation phases ahead of them. "

In vitro tests are

currently being carried out

to evaluate the effect of these compounds. The next step would be to test them in clinical trials," says Murcia.

These alternatives are necessary, as Murcia points out, not only because of the issue of

shortages

, but also because of a matter of

avoiding unwanted consequences

. "We focus on plant extracts and other natural compounds because they may have fewer side effects."

Although the effectiveness of these drugs already available for diabetics and in some cases for obesity has been demonstrated, "there are some effects associated with their use: gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, vomiting and changes in mental health such as anxiety and irritability. Recent data have also confirmed that when patients stop treatment they regain the lost weight.

This is because "most GLP-1 agonists are peptides (short chains of amino acids that can be broken down by stomach enzymes) and are therefore currently more likely to be injected than taken by mouth." orally," clarifies Murcia. At the same time, she explains that "non-peptide drugs may

have fewer side effects

and be easier to administer, meaning they could be given in the form of pills rather than injections."

It should be noted that one of the natural compounds that became famous thanks to social networks, berberine, is not among those chosen. "We started from synthetic compounds with already demonstrated agonist activity, both in vitro and in vivo. In principle,

we expected that berberine would be one of those 65 compounds of natural origin

with potential activity, but

that was not the case

. Probably berberine can help the treatment of obesity, but through other mechanisms of action.

How did they use artificial intelligence in the search for natural 'ozempic'?

To find a natural substitute for the synthetic analogues of GLP-1, they used high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to identify natural non-peptide compounds that activate the GLP-1 receptor. "The use of AI allows us

to perform advanced analyzes of large databases and model and interpret molecular interactions quickly

and accurately. Using machine learning algorithms and predictive modeling techniques we may be able to identify potential compounds for weight loss ".

The idea came from the doctoral thesis at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM) in Murcia, which has been directed by the directors Horacio Pérez-Sánchez, principal investigator of the Research Group 'Structural Bioinformatics and High-Performance Computing Research Group (BIO- HPC)', and Juan José Hernández Morante, principal investigator of the 'Eating Disorders Research Unit (UITA)' Research Group.

Virtual screening was used

to examine more than 10,000 compounds

and identify those that bound to the GLP-1 receptor. "Of which we have identified 65 compounds with a high probability of having GLP-1 receptor agonist activity," he indicates.

Other AI-based methods

were then used

to see how closely these bonds resembled those between the hormone GLP-1 and its receptor. The 100 compounds that bound most similarly were then chosen for further visual analysis, to determine whether they interacted with key residues (amino acids) on the receptor.