Patent ID: 8067363

Claim:
A method of promoting lipid mobilization in a human in need thereof, the method comprising administering to the human, in an amount effective to mobilize lipids in the human, a compound of no more than nine amino acids in length having the chemical structure: Xaa 1 -Xaa 2 -Xaa 3 -Xaa 4 -Xaa 5 -Xaa 6 -Xaa 7 -Xaa 8 -X—Z, or a physiologically acceptable salt thereof wherein: Xaa 1 is a glutamate, a pyroglutamate or a glutamine; Xaa 2 is one of a leucine, an isoleucine, a valine, a phenylalanine, and a tyrosine; Xaa 3 is one of an asparagine and a threonine; Xaa 4 is one of a phenylalanine and a tyrosine; Xaa 5 is one of a threonine and a serine; Xaa 6 is one of a proline, a serine, a threonine, and an alanine; Xaa 7 is one of a glycine, an asparagine, a serine, an aspartate, a valine, and a tryptophan; Xaa 8 is a tryptophan; X is zero amino acids or is a glycine; and Z is hydrogen or a carboxyl terminus-blocking moiety selected from methyl, ethyl, propyl, amide, methylamino, ethylamino, dimethylamino, diethylamino and methylethylamino.