Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor (PPAR)δ Promotes Reversal of Multiple Metabolic Abnormalities, Reduces Oxidative Stress, and Increases Fatty Acid Oxidation in Moderately Obese Men

Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor (PPAR)δ Promotes Reversal of Multiple Metabolic Abnormalities, Reduces Oxidative Stress, and Increases Fatty Acid Oxidation in Moderately Obese Men Ulf Risérus 1 , Dennis Sprecher 2 , Tony Johnson 2 , Eric Olson 2 , Sandra Hirschberg 2 , Aixue Liu 3 , Zeke Fang 4 , Priti Hegde 5 , Duncan Richards 6 , Leli Sarov-Blat 5 , Jay C. Strum 5 , Samar Basu 7 , Jane Cheeseman 1 , Barbara A. Fielding 1 , Sandy M. Humphreys 1 , Theodore Danoff 3 , Niall R. Moore 8 , Peter Murgatroyd 9 , Stephen O'Rahilly 10 , Pauline Sutton 1 , Tim Willson 11 , David Hassall 12 , Keith N. Frayn 1 and Fredrik Karpe 1 1 Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K 2 Cardiovascular and Urogenital Center for Excellence in Drug Discovery, GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 3 Human Target Validation, Cardiovascular and Urogenital Center for Excellence in Drug Discovery, GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 4 Statistics, GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 5 Clinical Pharmacology and Discovery Medicine/Cardiovascular and Urogenital (CPDM CVU) Unit, GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 6 Addenbrooke's Centre for Clinical Investigation (ACCI) Unit, GlaxoSmithKline, Cambridge, U.K 7 Department of Public Health, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden 8 Department of Radiology, Churchill Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K 9 Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, U.K 10 Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K 11 GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 12 GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, U.K Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. F. Karpe, Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7LJ, U.K. E-mail: fredrik.karpe{at}ocdem.ox.ac.uk Abstract OBJECTIVE— Pharmacological use of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor (PPAR)δ agonists and transgenic overexpression of PPARδ in mice suggest amelioration of features of the metabolic syndrome through enhanced fat oxidation in skeletal muscle. We hypothesize a similar mechanism operates in humans. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS— The PPARδ agonist (10 mg o.d. GW501516), a comparator PPARα agonist (20 μg o.d. GW590735), and placebo were given in a double-blind, randomized, three-parallel group, 2-week study to six healthy moderately overweight subjects in each group. Metabolic evaluation was made before and af