Prohormone convertase 1/3 deficiency causes obesity due to impaired proinsulin processing

Defective insulin processing is associated with obesity and diabetes. Prohormone convertase 1/3 (PC1/3) is an endopeptidase required for the processing of neurotransmitters and hormones. PC1/3 deficiency and genome-wide association studies relate PC1/3 with early onset obesity. Here, we find that deletion of PC1/3 in obesity-related neuronal cells expressing proopiomelanocortin mildly and transiently change body weight and fail to produce a phenotype when targeted to Agouti-related peptide- or nestin-expressing tissues. In contrast, pancreatic β cell-specific PC1/3 ablation induces hyperphagia with consecutive obesity despite uncontrolled diabetes with glucosuria. Obesity develops not due to impaired pro-islet amyloid polypeptide processing but due to impaired insulin maturation. Proinsulin crosses the blood-brain-barrier but does not induce central satiety. Accordingly, insulin therapy prevents hyperphagia. Further, islet PC1/3 expression levels negatively correlate with body mass index in humans. In this work, we show that impaired PC1/3-mediated proinsulin processing, as observed in human prediabetes, promotes hyperphagic obesity. Defective insulin secretion is observed early in the development of diabetes. Here the authors report that β cell-specific deficiency of the insulin prohormone convertase 1/3 (PC1/3) leads not only to hyperglycemia, but also to hyperphagic obesity in mice.