The Design of a GLP-1/PYY Dual Acting Agonist

The two gut hormones GLP-1 and PYY3-36, which are both secreted from the L-cells upon food stimuli, have a stronger inhibitory effect on food intake when they are combined, compared to their individual effects as single agonists. Although they are not homologous and share no sequence similarity, we show that a GLP-1 analogue can be designed to exhibit potent activity on both the Y-2 and GLP-1 receptors. Dual acting hybrid analogues were realized by designing truncated and potent Y-2 receptor PYY analogues, followed by integrating the critical residues into GLP-1. In this study, we show that one of these dual acting agonists acutely reduces food intake significantly more than the respective mono-agonist counterparts.

Automated summary

The gut hormones GLP-1 and PYY3-36, when combined, have a stronger inhibitory effect on food intake compared to when they act individually. Designing a GLP-1 analogue can target both the Y-2 and GLP-1 receptors simultaneously, leading to a reduction in food intake.