A Brief Review of Preclinical Researches and Clinical Trials of Oxytocin on Behavior-Related Phenotypes in Prader-Willi Syndrome

A Brief Review of Preclinical Researches and Clinical Trials of Oxytocin on Behavior-Related Phenotypes in Prader-Willi Syndrome

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder of hyperphagia leading to severe obesity, intellectual deficits, compulsivity, and other behavioral problems. PWS is caused by the inactivation of contiguous genes on chromosome 15q11-q13, which complicates the development of targeted, effective therapeutics. Various preclinical studies have been conducted by developing mouse models that exhibit phenotypes similar to PWS. Oxytocin deficiency in PWS is associated with hyperphagia with impaired satiety and, food-seeking and behavior disorders. Here, we summarize the oxytocin study of ingestion behavior tested in the PWS mouse model and published data from clinical trials that have evaluated treatment effectiveness on ingestion behavior and social dysfunction in patients with PWS.