PROJECT ABSTRACT
Obesity problem has become increasingly prevalant these years and arouses widespread concern. Causing terrible diseases like diabetes and certain types of cancer, obesity takes a huge toll on human health worldwide. Traditional methods to lose weight are either easy to rebound or associated with side effects, and a relatively perfect treatment of obesity has not appeared yet so far. The goal of our project is to develop a new strategy to treat obesity, with building a transplantable system targeting a specific molecule that functions in white fat tissues. We packed siRNA into exosomes (nano-sized vesicles secreted by human cells). Then we modified our exosome with a certain peptide to act as white-fat-tissue-specific targeting tool. The siRNA will function to bring out the apoptosis of fat tissue. Our validation experiments will be carried out at the level of cells and animals (mice) to prove both the targeting and function of siRNA. Eventually, we expect to see a specific accumulation of the siRNA in the mice’s white fat tissue and the decrease of mice’s fat and their weights. This project may provide new insights into future treatment of obesity.
