Scientists hope their research leads to vaccine reducing effects of obesity

Not so far in the future, the medical complications linked to obesity – an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke, cancer and end-stage liver disease – could be reduced by a simple vaccine. People who got the vaccine would still be overweight, but the strain on their organs and organ systems would be greatly diminished, allowing doctors to better treat the obesity itself. Scientists at the Methodist Diabetes and Metabolism Institute hope to create this vaccine within the next decade, based on their groundbreaking research surrounding fat cells. “We always want to emphasize that the best treatment for obesity is diet and exercise,” said Tuo Deng, first author on the study and a postdoctoral fellow at the institute. But a vaccine that reduces or disrupts the production of inflamed fat cells could “revolutionize” the treatment of obesity’s worst consequences, he added. Along with Christopher J. Lyon, a senior research associate at the...