Patent ID: 7550429

Claim:
A method of treating a mammal to bring about a weight reduction or reduction in obesity, comprising administering to a mammal in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective dosage of a lipid mobilizing agent isolated from cachexia-inducing murine tumor MAC16 or from urine of cancer cachexia patients, which has an apparent molecular weight M r of about 43 kDa as determined by its electrophoretic mobility when subjected to 15% SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, has an apparent molecular weight of about 84 kDa when electrophoresed on 10% non-denaturing PAGE, wherein treatment with chymotrypsin produces peptides that have 100% sequence identity to residues 2-6, 55-79, and 146-167 of SEQ ID NO: 1, and wherein the agent induces lipolysis in mammalian adipocytes, and measuring a weight reduction or reduction in obesity in the mammal as compared to the weight or obesity of the mammal prior to treatment.