Profound obesity secondary to hyperphagia in mice lacking kinase suppressor of ras 2

Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 May;19(5):1010-8. doi: 10.1038/oby.2010.282. Epub 2010 Dec 2.

Abstract

The kinase suppressor of ras 2 (KSR2) gene resides at human chromosome 12q24, a region linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). While knocking out and phenotypically screening mouse orthologs of thousands of druggable human genes, we found KSR2 knockout (KSR2(-/-)) mice to be more obese and glucose intolerant than melanocortin 4 receptor(-/-) (MC4R(-/-)) mice. The obesity and T2D of KSR2(-/-) mice resulted from hyperphagia which was unresponsive to leptin and did not originate downstream of MC4R. The kinases AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) are each linked to food intake regulation, but only mTOR had increased activity in KSR2(-/-) mouse brain, and the ability of rapamycin to inhibit food intake in KSR2(-/-) mice further implicated mTOR in this process. The metabolic phenotype of KSR2 heterozygous (KSR2(+/minus;)) and KSR2(-/-) mice suggests that human KSR2 variants may contribute to a similar phenotype linked to human chromosome 12q24.

MeSH terms

  • AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases
  • Adipose Tissue / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / metabolism*
  • Eating / genetics
  • Hyperphagia / metabolism*
  • Leptin / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Obesity / metabolism*
  • Protein Kinases / metabolism*
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / deficiency
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*

Substances

  • Leptin
  • Protein Kinases
  • mTOR protein, mouse
  • KSR2 protein, mouse
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases