• Kuniko Takagi, Romain Legrand, Akihiro Asakawa, Haruka Amitani, Marie François, Naouel Tennoune, Moïse Coëffier, Sophie Claeyssens, Jean-Claude do Rego, Pierre Déchelotte, Akio Inui, and Sergueï O Fetissov.
• 1] Inserm UMR1073, Nutrition, Gut and Brain Laboratory, Rouen 76183, France [2] Institute for Research and Innovation in Biomedicine (IRIB), Rouen University, Normandy University, Rouen 76183, France [3] Department of Psychosomatic Internal Medicine, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan [4].
• Nat Commun. 2013 Jan 1;4:2685.

AbstractObese individuals often have increased appetite despite normal plasma levels of the main orexigenic hormone ghrelin. Here we show that ghrelin degradation in the plasma is inhibited by ghrelin-reactive IgG immunoglobulins, which display increased binding affinity to ghrelin in obese patients and mice. Co-administration of ghrelin together with IgG from obese individuals, but not with IgG from anorectic or control patients, increases food intake in rats. Similarly, chronic injections of ghrelin together with IgG from ob/ob mice increase food intake, meal frequency and total lean body mass of mice. These data reveal that in both obese humans and mice, IgG with increased affinity for ghrelin enhances ghrelin's orexigenic effect, which may contribute to increased appetite and overeating.

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