才子佳人！GSK携手冷泉港向肥胖和二型糖尿病发起冲锋

最近，美国生物医药研究重镇冷泉港实验室宣布将与英国生物医药巨头葛兰素史克公司建立长期合作。双方将在肥胖和二型糖尿病新疗法的研究开发方面进行合作研究。

协议规定，冷泉港实验室和葛兰素史克公司的研究人员将围绕PTP1B这种蛋白酪氨酸磷酸化酶进行研究。PTP1B被认为在机体产生胰岛素抵抗和瘦素抵抗中起到重要作用，这些早已成为困扰肥胖症和糖尿病治疗领域多时的难题。

数据显示，2011年全世界共有3亿6千6百万人患有糖尿病，到2030年，这一数字将激增至5亿5千2百万。而全球每年花费在肥胖问题方面的健康支出已经达到了两千亿美元之多！肥胖和糖尿病已经成为人类无法回避的健康问题之一！

一直以来，作为美国生命科学的圣地，冷泉港实验室都十分重视与企业的合作。实验室商业开发和成果转化部门主管Teri Willey对于此次合作更是寄予了很高的期望。而，为了这一合作的顺利进行，冷泉港实验室派出了“豪华”的研究阵容。冷泉港实验室负责此次项目的是Professor Nicholas Tonks，他长期从事关于酪氨酸磷酸化酶家族的研究，在PTP家族研究领域可谓是泰斗级的人物。值得注意的是，作为此次研究靶点的PTP1B就是他发现的。

作为一个拥有125年历史的研究机构，冷泉港实验室在美国乃至世界生命科学领域都享有盛名。目前该实验室共有8名诺贝尔奖得主在此从事研究工作，每年有超过一万两千名来自世界各地的青年学者在这里进行学术交流。凭借其强大的学术能力，冷泉港实验室和葛兰素史克公司的合作可谓是天作之合。让我们期待，这一阵容强大的组合在未来能够给我们带来怎样的惊喜。

详细英文报道：

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y.--Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today announced a collaboration with GSK to develop a treatment for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Scientists at CSHL and GSK will pursue drug development based on a novel approach to regulate the enzymatic activity of the phosphatase PTP1B. The goal of the multi-year CSHL-GSK collaboration is to identify potent, selective, orally bioavailable small molecules that inhibit PTP1B activity in vivo following stimulation by insulin and leptin, which would be expected to overcome insulin and leptin resistance that is encountered in diabetes and obesity.

"At CSHL, we are striving to achieve mutually beneficial and effective collaborations to accelerate research and develop new therapies to benefit patients", said Teri Willey, Vice President for Business Development and Technology Transfer at CSHL. Obesity and diabetes are among the major medical challenges that society currently faces. According to the International Diabetes Federation, diabetes had a worldwide prevalence of 366 million in 2011 and that is predicted to increase to 552 million by 2030. In the U.S. alone, the annual health cost related to obesity is nearly $200 billion.

The work at CSHL will be led by Professor Nicholas Tonks, who is an expert on the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) family of enzymes and their roles in human diseases. He is considered a pioneer in the PTP field, having discovered PTP1B. His work was instrumental in establishing the importance of the PTP family of enzymes as regulators of how cells respond to stimuli from their environment and as potential therapeutic candidates for several human diseases.

"At GSK, we believe that combining the in-depth target and disease knowledge of renowned academic groups with our drug-discovery expertise and capabilities can foster innovation and speed up the discovery and development of new medicines," said Carolyn Buser, global head of The Discovery Partnership with Academia program (DPAc) at GSK. "We are excited to expand our partnerships in North America and look forward to working closely with Dr. Tonks, whose deep understanding of protein tyrosine phosphatase biology will complement our own work in this field." DPAc at GSK combines the insights and creativity of the academic world with GSK's drug-discovery expertise to turn innovative research into medicines that benefit patients. GSK currently has 13 DPAc collaborations in place at academic research institutions in North America and Europe.

GSK and CSHL will provide project co-leadership, allowing synergy between their different sets of expertise to facilitate the development of novel therapeutics.