Effect of glucagon like peptide-1 therapy on obesity driven inflammation and co-morbid inflammatory conditions.
Obesity has been shown to cause and worsen diseases such as diabetes, psoriasis, arthritis, asthma and cancer. Increased inflammation is the basic process, which causes obesity related diseases. Inflammation is the body's normal way of dealing with an infection or injury, but is usually specific and short lived. However, in obese people this inflammation is on-going, resulting in inflamed tissues and organs, ultimately causing disease. GLP-1 is a hormone made by our body under normal conditions but lost in obesity. GLP-1 due to its effects on insulin and hunger is now a treatment for type 2 diabetes. Recent research has shown that GLP-1 also has effects on inflammation, resulting in reduced inflammation and improvements in diseases such as psoriasis and Parkinson disease. We aim to study how GLP-1 improves inflammation in people with type 2 diabetes. We will study patients who have type 2 diabetes along with one of the following linked inflammatory conditions: psoriasis, arthritis or asthma. We will also study the effect of GLP-1 on immune cells from obese children. Improved understanding of how GLP-1 affects inflammation will allow us to see if GLP-1 therapy could be a useful anti-inflammatory treatment in obesity and obesity related diseases.
- Award Date
- 19 June 2014
- Award Value
- €324,794
- Principal Investigator
- Professor Donal O'Shea
- Host Institution
- University College Dublin
- Scheme
- Health Research Awards