Female sex hormones seem to have a protective role in reducing the development of metabolic disease in premenopausal women. This effect seems to be at least partially due to oestrogens increasing leptin sensitivity in the brain, but the mechanisms were unclear. A new study identifies a role for the protein CITED1 in integrating leptin and oestradiol signalling to control food intake.
CITED1 was predominantly expressed in AGRP+ and POMC+ neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus and was highly coexpressed with oestrogen receptor α (ERα). Deletion of Cited1 in hypothalamic neurons alone (HypΔCited1) resulted in a similar obesity-prone phenotype and increase in food intake in female mice to that seen in Cited1-KO mice, suggesting that CITED1 was affecting these appetite-regulating neurons.