UTHealth Houston Wins $4 Million NIH Grant to Probe GLP-1 Weight Regain in 100-Patient Trial
Updated
Updated · BIOENGINEER.ORG · Oct 3
UTHealth Houston Wins $4 Million NIH Grant to Probe GLP-1 Weight Regain in 100-Patient Trial
1 articles · Updated · BIOENGINEER.ORG · Oct 3
Summary
$4 million in NIH funding will support a five-year UTHealth Houston study of why patients often regain weight after stopping GLP-1 drugs, using a double-blind randomized trial led by endocrinologist Absalon Gutierrez.
100 participants with obesity from the Border Health Research Cohort will take semaglutide for six months, after which half will stop treatment and half will continue so researchers can isolate the biological effects of withdrawal.
Researchers will track genetic markers, fat-tissue and blood changes, appetite hormones, insulin response, body composition and resting metabolism to test whether a measurable "metabolic memory" predicts who keeps weight off.
The clinical need is large: about 30% of patients stop GLP-1 therapy within six months, 50% within a year, and most regain more than 60% of lost weight within a year of discontinuation.
The work, conducted with Vanderbilt University and UTHealth's Border Health Research Center in Brownsville, could yield biomarkers and drug targets for more personalized obesity treatment in an understudied Mexican American population.