Mitochondrial Uncoupling as a Therapeutic Target in Obesity

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity is recognized as a national and global epidemic, as approximately 65% of adults in the United States are classified as overweight or obese as defined by body mass index (BMI). In fact, in the year 2000, the human race reached a historical landmark, when for the first time in history the number of adults with excess weight surpassed the number of those who were underweight. Obesity is linked with several cardiovascular risk factors cumulatively recognized as the metabolic syndrome. While obesity is associated with increased risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease; consequently, weight loss in obese subjects has been demonstrated to reduce or reverse health risk factors. Fundamentally, irrespective ofthe method by which weight loss occurs, even a modest reduction in body weight has been shown to consistently reduce or reverse risk factors. In the 1930s it was recognized that increasing the body's basal metabolism using mitochondrial uncouplers, d