OBESITY: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY AND RELATED THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES

• Grant number: 23/01434-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: March 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Costa Batista
• Grantee: Simone Matsuda Torricelli
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/25493-6 - Obesity: pathophysiology and related therapeutic strategies, AP.TEM

Abstract

The epidemic incidence of obesity and the resulting burden of cardiovascular events and renal disease have led to an unfavorable impact on global public health. These events are in close association with risk factors arising from changes in lipid metabolism, diabetes mellitus, and arterial hypertension, which has generated great interest in the scientific community in recent years. In this sense, the search for mechanisms for intervention through different therapeutic strategies, with emphasis on the study of cellular and molecular pathways, as well as the development of common biomarkers, has been the premise of many research areas. With this perception, the Research Group of the Nephrology Division of Escola Paulista de Medicina - Universidade Federal de São Paulo, in association with researchers from the Nephrology Division of Tufts University in Boston and the Academic Research Organization of Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, made a collective effort to develop the Project: "Obesity: pathophysiology and related therapeutic strategies." We seek a translational perspective approach, covering different subprojects in areas of cellular and molecular biology, in experimental models, as well as in clinical protocols with standard interfaces. In this Thematic Project, made up of 04 Principal Investigators, 06 Associates, and with the participation of 12 students (between Scientific Initiation, Master, Doctorate, and Postdoctoral), we focused on the search for a therapeutic standpoint (pharmacological treatment, bariatric surgery, stem cell therapy) under the pathophysiological mechanisms common to visceral obesity such as inflammation-generating hypoxia, modulation of gene expression patterns in response to environmental stimuli, and changes in immune response in several cellular and experimental models over eight subprojects. Under such perspective, we aim at the study of epigenetics, the biological function of microRNAs, and the impact contemporary pharmacological strategies (the use of SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP1 agonists among others) for obesity and associated comorbidities (diabetes, renal disease, and hypertension). As can be observed, part of the protocols and experimental models used has already been the study topic of our group over the last years. It will be detailed separately after the literature review. Preliminary results, especially in cellular / molecular models and animal experiments, will be listed appropriately after the respective subprojects justifying the chosen strategy. It is worth highlighting that the emphasis in the study of the prevention of renal disease progression and the evaluation of cardiovascular disease biomarkers was the perspective developed in the different subprojects in endothelial and adipocyte cells, experimental models and scenarios of pragmatic studies and clinical protocols as follows.