Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0028754 (obesity)
 124,988 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Glucose stabilizes the mRNA for human fatty acid synthase (FAS), an enzyme relevant to diverse human disorders, including hyperlipidemia, obesity, and malignancy. To determine the underlying mechanisms, RNA gel mobility shift assays were used to demonstrate that human Hep G2 cells contain a cytoplasmic factor that binds specifically to the 3'-terminus of the human FAS mRNA. D-Glucose increased RNA-binding activity by 2.02-fold (P = 0.0033), with activity peaking 3 h after glucose feeding. Boiling or treatment of extracts with proteinase K abolished binding. Ultraviolet cross-linking of the FAS mRNA-binding factor followed by SDS-PAGE resolved a proteinase K-sensitive band with an apparent molecular mass of 178 +/- 7 kDa. The protein was purified to homogeneity using nondenaturing polyacrylamide gels as an affinity matrix. Acid phosphatase treatment of the protein prevented binding to the FAS mRNA, but binding activity was unaffected by modification of sulfhydryl groups and was not Mg2+ or Ca2+ dependent. Deletion and RNase T1 mapping localized the binding site of the protein to 37 nucleotides characterized by the repetitive motif ACCCC and found within the first 65 bases of the 3'-UTR. Hybridization of the FAS transcript with an oligonucleotide antisense to this sequence abolished binding. These findings indicate that a 178-kDa glucose-inducible phosphoprotein binds to an (ACCCC)n-containing sequence in the 3'-UTR of the FAS mRNA within the same time frame that glucose stabilizes the FAS message. This protein may participate in the posttranscriptional control of FAS gene expression.
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PMID:Properties and purification of a glucose-inducible human fatty acid synthase mRNA-binding protein. 957 16

The aim of this study was to investigate growth and final height in young adults after therapy for malignant diseases. Final height and weight was studied in 50 long-term survivors (LTS) of childhood cancer (aged 17-31 years; 30 men, 20 women) 3-18 years after treatment for malignant diseases (7 acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 20 lymphoma, 8 sarcoma, 15 malignant central nervous system [CNS] tumours). None of the LTS had been treated with growth hormone (GH). A decrease in final height SDS (Standard deviation score) occurred in both LTS of malignant CNS tumours (median height SDS at diagnosis, 0.3; range, -0.9 to 2.2; median final height SDS, -1.3; range, -3.9 to 1.9; p < 0.01) and LTS of lymphoma (p < 0.05) or leukemia (p < 0.05). However, only LTS who received cranial (p < 0.05) or craniospinal (p < 0.001) irradiation (XRT) exhibited reduced final heights. LTS who had received XRT not involving the CNS or had received no XRT at all presented no reduction in final height. LTS of CNS tumours treated with high craniospinal XRT doses (24 to 56 Gy) reached lower (p < 0.01) final heights when compared with LTS of leukemia who received lower cranial XRT doses (18 to 24 Gy). Final height SDS correlated with chronological age at initiation of therapy (p < 0.05). No correlation was found between the cumulative doses of applied chemotherapeutic agents and the final height of LTS. During follow-up LTS developed an increase in weight for height index (WFH) which occurred independent of XRT. In conclusion, cranial and craniospinal XRT especially in young children with malignancies resulted in a decrease in final height SDS. As 6 of 15 LTS of malignant CNS tumours exhibited a final height SDS below -2 SD, analysis of pituitary function and substitution of GH after diagnosis of GH deficiency should be considered for these patients at a young age. Others factors not directly related to XRT are responsible for the increased risk for obesity in LTS of childhood cancer.
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PMID:Final height and weight of long-term survivors of childhood malignancies. 962 45

The agouti-related protein gene (Agrp) is a novel gene implicated in the control of feeding behavior. The hypothalamic expression of Agrp is regulated by leptin, and overexpression of Agrp in transgenic animals results in obesity and diabetes. By analogy with the known actions of agouti, these data suggest a role for the Agrp gene product in the regulation of melanocortin receptors expressed in the central nervous system. The availability of recombinant, highly purified protein is required to fully address this potential interaction. A nearly full-length form of AGRP (MKd5-AGRP) was expressed in the cytosolic or soluble fraction of Escherichia coli and appeared as large intermolecular disulfide-bonded aggregates. Following oxidation, refolding, and purification, this protein was soluble, and eluted as a single symmetric peak on RP-HPLC. Circular dichroism studies indicated that the purified protein contains primarily random coil and beta-sheet secondary structure. Sedimentation velocity studies at neutral pH demonstrated that MKd5-AGRP is monomeric at low micromolar concentrations. Mobility shifts observed using SDS-PAGE under reducing and nonreducing conditions for bacterially expressed and mammalian expressed AGRP were identical, an indication of a similar disulfide structure. The purification to homogeneity of a second, truncated form of AGRP (Md65-AGRP) which was expressed in the insoluble or inclusion body fraction is also described. Both forms act as competitive antagonists of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) at melanocortin-3 (MC-3) and melanocortin-4 receptors (MC-4). The demonstration that AGRP is an endogenous antagonist with respect to these receptors is a unique mechanism within the central nervous system, and has important implications in the control of feeding.
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PMID:Biochemical, biophysical, and pharmacological characterization of bacterially expressed human agouti-related protein. 981 97

Patients with myelomeningocele show an increased incidence of endocrinological disorders during their childhood. These disorders can ulteriorly affect the adult height of these patients who are already extremely short. In the present study we determined the final height in 21 patients (11 females aged 20.55 +/- 3.54 years; 10 males aged 20.99 +/- 2.94 years) with myelomeningocele. The endocrinological implications were investigated by clinical and laboratory assessment at control and an accurate retrospective evaluation of individual clinical history. Auxological data indicated that in male patients mean final height was significantly less (P < 0.05) than target height, but in females the difference between final height and target height was even more marked (P < 0.001). Comparison of SDS for adult height between males (-2.04 +/- 1.89) and females (-4.36 +/- 2.24) evidenced a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). The analysis of endocrinological data showed that 7 females had had precocious puberty not treated; no case of precocious puberty was evidenced in males. In 4 females we observed plasmatic IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 concentrations significantly reduced either for chronological age and pubertal stage; this finding emerged in only 1 male. Plasmatic thyroid hormone and adrenal steroid concentrations resulted normal in both groups. Finally, obesity, considered as BMI > 90%, resulted present since childhood in 4 females and 2 males. Our data show that females with myelomeningocele have a statistically greater decrease of their adult stature respect to males. This difference is probably due to a more significant incidence in females of endocrinological diseases. Thus, we believe that a better statural prognosis may be joined in these patients (particularly in girls), through a careful endocrinological follow-up, performed from their births, in order to ensure a prompt identification and treatment of the cases of precocious puberty, impaired GH secretion or obesity.
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PMID:[Precocious puberty, Gh deficiency and obesity can affect final height in patients with myelomeningocele: comparison of males and females]. 1057 Jul 85

There is limited information on the underlying physiological mechanisms promoting obesity in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). The aim of this study was to investigate whether body fat regulation in children with PWS is similar to that in children with non-syndromal obesity and non-obese children. We studied three groups: 1) 72 non-obese children and adolescents; 2) 68 children with non-syndromal obesity; and 3) 11 patients with PWS. Height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) and BMI SDS were calculated. Fasting serum leptin concentrations were determined. Median leptin serum concentrations were similar in PWS patients and children with non-syndromal obesity. Median leptin serum concentrations were higher in these two groups than in the non-obese group. Log leptin serum concentrations and BMI SDS showed significant correlations in the three groups of patients; correlation coefficients were 0.525, 0.285 and 0.854, respectively. In conclusion, median leptin serum concentrations are similar in PWS patients and children with non-syndromal obesity. The relationship between log serum leptin concentrations and BMI SDS was different in the three groups of patients studied.
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PMID:Serum leptin concentrations in children with Prader-Willi syndrome and non-syndromal obesity. 1077 97

Obesity and hypothalamic GH deficiency contribute in different ways to the disturbances of body composition in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS); while both increase the fat compartment, the reduction of lean tissue mass has been attributed mainly to GH deficiency. Therefore, body composition measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was prospectively studied in 12 overweight children with PWS and weight for height (WfH) SDS >0 before and during 3.5 years of treatment with hGH (0.037 mg/kg/day) on average. In the long term, there is a net reduction of body fat from 3.1 to 1.2 SD, with a minimum at the end of the second year of treatment. WfH SDS correctly reflects body fat mass and its changes. The initial deficit of lean mass (-1.6 SD) is counteracted by GH only during the first year of therapy (increase to -1.25 SD). But in the long term, GH therapy does not further compensate for this deficit, when lean mass is corrected for its growth-related increase. In conclusion, exogenous GH changes the phenotype of children with PWS: fat mass becomes normal, but, at least in the setting studied, GH is not sufficient to normalize lean tissue mass.
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PMID:Body composition abnormalities in children with Prader-Willi syndrome and long-term effects of growth hormone therapy. 1104 4

Human leptin expressed by E. coli had been used to treat human obesity in American and scientists had achieved good effects, the researchers here wanted to know whether human leptin can be expressed in the mammary glands of transgenic animas. In this study, human leptin gene about 1.0 kb, the terminator of rabbit whey acid protein gene (rWAP) about 0.2 kb and the promoter including the distal upstream region and part of the first exon of rWAP gene about 6.3 kb were used to construct a expression vector. Before we did the subclonings, the sequences of the human leptin gene were sequenced by ABI377 DNA Sequencer, the results showed that the fragment of human leptin gene included the last nine base pairs of the first exon, the complete sequences of the second exon(172 bp) and parts of the third exon(including part of the encoding sequences and part of the 3' untranslated region). The final expression vector was digested with NotI and a fragment of 7.5 kb was collected and dissolved in TE(10 mmol/L Tris.Cl, pH7.4; 0.1 mmol/L EDTA) for later microinjection. The concentration of DNA was about 2 micrograms/mL, the copy number in 1 mL was about 2.4 x 10(11), every 1 to 2 pL of the prepared DNA solution was microinjected into the mouse embryos at pronucleus stage. After standard microinjection procedures, 48 live mice were obtained. The tails of the mice were cut(about 0.1 g) at four weeks of age, genomic DNA was extracted and digested completely with EcoRI, two were confirmed to be transgenic mice(both were female) by Southern hybridization using DIG labeled human leptin gene as probe, transgenic rate among the mice born was about 4% (2/48). The two female transgenic mice(2# and C3) were mated with nontransgenic male mice. The two founder transgenic mice were segregated with their baby mice for at least three hours at the fifth day after parturition and were milked by intraperitoneal injection of 0.3 IU of oxytocin and udder massage. SDS-PAGE was used to analyze whether there were expression of human leptin in the milk of the two founder transgenic mice with the milk of non-transgenic mouse at fifth day after parturition as control. SDS-PAGE results showed that compared with the control there was a new band in both of the founder transgenic mice milk, and its molecular weight was about 16 kD, which was quite similar with that of the human leptin. The researchers estimated that the expression level of this protein in the milk of the transgenic mice was about 1-2 mg/mL.
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PMID:[A study on the expression of human leptin in the mammary glands of transgenic mice]. 1133 Jan 96

We report a 28-year-old-female who presented with primary amenorrhoea, absence of puberty, obesity and normal stature. The subject was clearly short as a child, with a height more than 2 SD below normal until the age of 15 years. The pubertal growth spurt failed to develop. She continued growing at a prepubertal rate until growth ceased at the age of 20 years, reaching her final adult height of 157 cm (SDS -0.86) without hormonal treatment. A combined pituitary hormone stimulation test of anterior pituitary function showed deficiencies of GH, LH and FSH, and low normal serum levels of TSH and PRL. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a hypoplastic pituitary with markedly reduced pituitary height. In addition, a whole body dual energy X-ray absorptiometry scan showed high levels of body fat (54%). Combined pituitary hormone deficiencies with a hypoplastic pituitary suggested the diagnosis of a Prophet of Pit-1 (PROP1) gene mutation. Normal stature in this case, however, confounded this diagnosis. Sequencing of PROP1 revealed homozygosity for a single base-pair substitution (C to T), resulting in the replacement of an Arg by a Cys at codon 120 (R120C) in the third helix of the homeodomain of the Prop-1 protein. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient with a mutation in the PROP1 gene that attained normal height without hormonal treatment, indicating a new variability in the PROP1 phenotype, with important implications for the diagnosis of these patients. We suggest that this can be explained by (i) the presence of low levels of GH in the circulation during childhood and adolescence; (ii) the lack of circulating oestrogen delaying epiphyseal fusion, resulting in growth beyond the period of normal growth; and (iii) fusion of the epiphyseal plates, possibly as a result of circulating oestrogens originating from peripheral conversion of androgens by adipose tissue.
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PMID:A unique case of combined pituitary hormone deficiency caused by a PROP1 gene mutation (R120C) associated with normal height and absent puberty. 1215 92

Marked disturbance in eating behaviour and obesity are common sequelae of hypothalamic damage. To investigate whether these were associated with dysfunctional leptin central feedback, we evaluated serum leptin and leptin binding activity in 37 patients (age 3.5-21 yr) with tumour or trauma involving the hypothalamic-pituitary axis compared with 138 healthy children (age 5.0-18.2 yr). Patients were subdivided by BMI <2 SDS or > or = 2 SDS and healthy children and children with simple obesity of comparable age and pubertal status served as controls. Patients had higher BMI (mean 1.9 vs 0.2 SDS; p <0.001), a greater proportion had BMI > or = 2 SDS (54% vs 8%; p <0.001) and higher serum leptin (mean 2.1 vs 0.04 SDS; p <0.001) than healthy children. Serum leptin (mean 1.1 vs -0.1 SDS; p = 0.004) and values adjusted for BMI (median 0.42 vs 0.23 microg/l:kg/m2; p = 0.02) were higher in patients with BMI <2 SDS. However, serum leptin adjusted for BMI was similar in patients with BMI > or = 2 SDS compared to corresponding controls (1.08 vs 0.95; p = 0.6). Log serum leptin correlated with BMI SDS in all subject groups but the relationship in patients with BMI <2 SDS was of higher magnitude (r = 0.65, slope = 0.29, p =0.05 for difference between slopes) than in healthy controls (r = 0.42, slope = 0.19). Serum leptin binding activity (median 7.5 vs 9.3%; p = 0.02) and values adjusted for BMI (median 0.28 vs 0.48 % x m2/kg; p <0.001) were lower in patients than in healthy children. The markedly elevated leptin levels with increasing BMI in non-obese patients with hypothalamic-pituitary damage are suggestive of an unrestrained pattern of leptin secretion. This along with low leptin binding activity and hence higher free leptin levels would be consistent with central leptin insensitivity.
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PMID:Serum leptin and leptin binding activity in children and adolescents with hypothalamic dysfunction. 1219 40

The prevalence of obesity in children and young adults in Germany has dramatically increased during the last decades. We investigated the impact of an one year outpatient intervention including physical training, psychotherapy and nutrition counselling on psychological status and course of weight of 19 adolescents who were diagnosed with obesity (intervention group, IG). The following questions were of particular interest: Is there a difference between children with obesity (n = 19, mean age 12.4 years) and controls (without obesity and overweight, control group, CG, n = 38, matched for age and sex) regarding the extent of emotional and behavioural problems, self-esteem and physical complaints? Does the intervention lead to a decrease of these problems as rated by the adolescents and mothers? Can we find a significant reduction of the BMI-SDS after one year training in the IG? The group comparisons between the IG and the CG revealed lower feelings of self-esteem, more self rated physical complaints, higher values on measures of depression/anxiety and attention problems in the CBCL for children with obesity, compared with controls. After one year training adolescents' psychological well being increased significantly while the BMI-SDS only decreased moderately. We conclude that children with obesity can benefit from receiving outpatient intervention if psychological and medical aspects are considered.
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PMID:[Obesity in childhood and adolescence--first results of a multimodal intervention study in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]. 1251 62


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