Role of kinin receptors in obesity and leptin signaling

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The kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) is a peptide hormone system involved in the regulation of smooth muscle contraction, endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, nociception and inflammation. Two receptors transmit the actions of the kinin peptides, B1 and B2. We could recently show that the kinin B1 receptor is crucially involved in leptin signalling and, thus, B1 deficient mice were resistant to high fat diet induced obesity. Using established and newly generated transgenic and knockout mouse models, this project plans to clarify the cell types involved in the interactions between the B1 receptor and leptin, and further investigates the role of the B2 receptor as well as the whole KKS in these processes. The final aim is to evaluate the two kinin receptors as targets for novel anti-obesity therapeutics. The project is jointly performed by the group of the applicant together with the group of Prof. Joǎo B. Pesquero from the Federal University of Sǎo Paulo, Brazil.