ABHD11, a new diacylglycerol lipase involved in weight gain regulation

PLoS One. 2020 Jun 24;15(6):e0234780. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234780. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Obesity epidemic continues to spread and obesity rates are increasing in the world. In addition to public health effort to reduce obesity, there is a need to better understand the underlying biology to enable more effective treatment and the discovery of new pharmacological agents. Abhydrolase domain-containing protein 11 (ABHD11) is a serine hydrolase enzyme, localized in mitochondria, that can synthesize the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2AG) in vitro. In vivo preclinical studies demonstrated that knock-out ABHD11 mice have a similar 2AG level as WT mice and exhibit a lean metabolic phenotype. Such mice resist to weight gain in Diet Induced Obesity studies (DIO) and display normal biochemical plasma parameters. Metabolic and transcriptomic analyses on serum and tissues of ABHD11 KO mice from DIO studies show a modulation in bile salts associated with reduced fat intestinal absorption. These data suggest that modulating ABHD11 signaling pathway could be of therapeutic value for the treatment of metabolic disorders.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Feces / enzymology
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic
  • Gene Knockout Techniques
  • Humans
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Mice
  • Mitochondria / metabolism
  • Serine Proteases / deficiency
  • Serine Proteases / genetics
  • Serine Proteases / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Weight Gain*

Substances

  • ABHD11 protein, human
  • Serine Proteases

Grants and funding

The work was funded by Sanofi. Sanofi provided support in the form of salaries for all Sanofi authors [J.E., M.Ke., M.De., V.Y., M.D.B., S.R., F.M., H.d.F., C.B., A.O., J.C., R.L., E.P., A.Bu., P.C., V.D., A.L., C.C., S.T., P.J., P.G., M.L., L.R.B., M.A.C., W.D., M.C., M.Ka., C.O., V.M., M.Di., J.C.G.]. The funder had a role in the decision to publish but no role in the study design, data collection and analysis or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of the authors are articulated in the ‘author contribution’ section.