Umut Ozcan

Abstract Repurposing of existing drugs for new indications has attracted substantial attention owing to its potential to accelerate drug development and reduce costs. Hundreds of computational resources such as databases and predictive platforms have been developed that can be applied for drug repurposing, making it challenging to select the right resource for a specific drug repurposing project.

Matsushita et al., 2021 Matsushita M. Awazawa M. Kobayashi N. Ikushima Y.M. Soeda K. Tamura-Nakano M. Muratani M. Kobayashi K. Bluher M. Bruning J.C. et al. An antisense transcript transcribed from Irs2 locus contributes to the pathogenesis of hepatic steatosis in insulin resistance. Cell Chem Biol.

Abstract Celastrol is a leptin-sensitizing agent with profound anti-obesity effects in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. However, the genes and pathways that mediate celastrol-induced leptin sensitization have not been fully understood. By comparing the hypothalamic transcriptomes of celastrol and vehicle-treated DIO mice, we identified lipocalin-2 (Lcn2) as the gene most strongly upregulated by celastrol. LCN2 was previously suggested as an anorexigenic and anti-obesity agent.