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)

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) regulates the mature hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in vivo. In vitro, LIF determines corticotroph cell proliferation and induces POMC transcription. To explore LIF action on pituitary development, transgenic mice expressing LIF driven by the pituitary glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit (alphaGSU) promoter were generated. Transgenic mice exhibited dwarfism with low IGF-I (29 +/- 9 ng/ml vs. wild type (WT) 137 +/- 16 ng/ml; P < 0.001), hypogonadism with low FSH (0.04 +/- 0.023 ng/ml vs. WT 0.63 +/- 0.18 ng/ml; P < 0.001), and Cushingoid features of thin skin and truncal obesity with elevated cortisol levels (86 +/- 22 ng/ml vs. WT 50 +/- 14 ng/ml; P = 0.002). Their pituitary glands showed corticotroph hyperplasia, striking somatotroph and gonadotroph hypoplasia, and multiple Rathke-like cysts lined by ciliated cells. LIF, overexpressed in Rathke's pouch at embryonal day 10, diverts the differentiation stream of hormone-secreting cells toward the corticotroph lineage and ciliated nasopharyngeal-like epithelium. Thus, inappropriate expression of LIF, a neuro-immune interfacing cytokine, plays a key role in the terminal differentiation events of pituitary development and mature pituitary function.
Mol Endocrinol 1998 Nov
PMID:Pituitary-directed leukemia inhibitory factor transgene causes Cushing's syndrome: neuro-immune-endocrine modulation of pituitary development. 981 97

Regulation of intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) plays a key role in obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension, and [Ca2+]i disorders may represent a fundamental factor linking these three conditions. We have shown insulin to be a direct vasodilator, attenuating voltage-gated Ca2+ influx and stimulating Ca(2+)-ATPase transcription via a glucose-6-phosphate response element. These result in a net decrease in [Ca2+]i and thereby decrease vascular resistance, while these effects are blunted in insulin resistance, leading to increased vascular resistance. Consistent with this concept, pharmacological amplification of peripheral insulin sensitivity results in reduced arterial pressure. While insulin regulates [Ca2+]i, Ca2+ also regulates insulin signaling, as increasing [Ca2+]i impairs insulin signaling in some systems, possibly due to Ca2+ inhibition of insulin-regulated dephosphorylation. Finally, in recent studies of the mouse agouti gene, we have also demonstrated increased [Ca2+]i to play a key role in adipocyte lipogenesis, as follows. We have found dominant agouti mutants to exhibit increased [Ca2+]i in most tissues, leading to increased vascular reactivity and insulin resistance in vascular smooth muscle and skeletal muscle cells, respectively. Further, we have found recombinant agouti protein to directly increase [Ca2+]i in a variety of cells, including murine and human adipocytes, and to stimulate both the expression and activity of adipocyte fatty acid synthase and increase triglyceride accumulation in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. These effects can be mimicked by stimulation of Ca2+ influx and blocked by Ca2+ channel inhibition, while treatment of mice with a Ca2+ antagonist attenuates agouti-induced obesity. Since humans express agouti in adipose tissue, it may similarly exert paracrine effects on [Ca2+]i and thereby stimulate de novo lipogenesis and promote obesity. Thus, Ca2+ signaling represents a target for therapeutic intervention in obesity as well as hypertension and insulin resistance.
Mol Cell Biochem 1998 Nov
PMID:Nutritional and endocrine modulation of intracellular calcium: implications in obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension. 982 18

Increasing evidence suggests that the detrimental effects of glucocorticoid (GC) hypersecretion occur by activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in several human pathologies, including obesity, Alzheimer's disease, AIDS dementia, and depression. The different patterns of response by the HPA axis during chronic activation are an important consideration in selecting an animal model to assess HPA axis function in a particular disorder. This article will discuss how chronic HPA axis activation and GC hypersecretion affect hippocampal function and contribute to the development of obesity. In the brain, the hippocampus has the highest concentration of GC receptors. Chronic stress or corticosterone treatment induces neuropathological alterations, such as dendritic atrophy in hippocampal neurons, which are paralleled by cognitive deficits. Excitatory amino acid (EAA) neurotransmission has been implicated in chronic HPA axis activation. EAAs play a major role in neuroendocrine regulation. Hippocampal dendritic atrophy may involve alterations in EAA transporter function, and decreased EAA transporter function may also contribute to chronic HPA axis activation. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of HPA axis activation will likely advance the development of therapeutic interventions for conditions in which GC levels are chronically elevated.
Mol Neurobiol 1998 Aug
PMID:Detrimental effects of chronic hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation. From obesity to memory deficits. 982 46

KK obese mice exhibit a multigenic syndrome of moderate obesity, hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia. Here we show that the syndrome is accompanied by a marked elevation of leptin protein in adipose tissue, as well as leptin levels in serum, which corresponds with the degree of obesity. The cDNA sequence of leptin is normal in KK mice, whereas three nucleotide polymorphisms were found in the cDNA of the leptin receptor, one of them resulting in exchange of an aspartate residue for asparagine (Asp600Asn) in a highly conserved part of the second extracellular cytokine-receptor homology module. In female (but not male) F2 mice of a C57BL/6JxKK intercross, the weight of gonadal, retroperitoneal and mesenteric adipose tissue was positively correlated with the number of alleles inherited from the KK parental strain at a microsatellite marker (D4Mit175) which maps close (0.7 centimorgan proximal) to the leptin receptor gene. It is suggested that the Asp600Asn leptin receptor variant contributes to the obesity syndrome in KK female mice, but that its contribution is only a part of the multigenic syndrome.
J Mol Endocrinol 1998 Dec
PMID:Hyperleptinemia and leptin receptor variant Asp600Asn in the obese, hyperinsulinemic KK mouse strain. 984 74

Fibrinolysis is essential for maintaining the fluency of blood flow. Attenuated fibrinolytic activity has been frequently detected in coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular diseases, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and obesity. The biologically active product of fibrinolytic system is plasmin. Generation of plasmin is regulated by plasminogen activators (PA) and their inhibitors (PAI). Vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells synthesize tissue-type and urokinase-type PA (tPA and uPA) and their major physiological inhibitor, PAI-1. The production of fibrinolytic regulators is modulated by a number of biological factors related to thrombosis and atherosclerosis, including coagulation factors, hormones, growth factors, inflammatory mediators and lipoproteins. Several anticoagulants, including heparin, hirudin and hirulog-1, affect the production of fibrinolytic regulators in vascular cells. Studies in knockout mice demonstrated that mice deficient in PA or plasminogen are susceptible to thrombosis during inflammation or injury. Overexpression of uPA or deficiency of PAI-1 promotes neointima and aneurysm formation, which is probably due to active remodelling of extracellular matrix in vascular wall caused by excess plasmin. Long-term effect of treatment with thrombolytic agents or in atheroscleronic cardiovascular diseases remains to be defined. Future studies on determination of the role of PA and PAI in vascular remodelling may help understand the mechanism for neointima formation and orient the prevention of restenosis following vascular procedures.
Int J Mol Med 1998 Feb
PMID:Vascular cell-derived fibrinolytic regulators and atherothrombotic vascular disorders (Review). 985 42

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was the first T-cell-derived soluble lymphokine to be identified. It was originally found to inhibit the migration of macrophages and activate them at inflammatory loci. During the past few years, however, previously unrecognized properties of MIF have been discovered. It also functions, for example, as a pituitary hormone, glucocorticoid-induced immunomodulator and isomerase. We cloned rat MIF cDNA and reported that the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA predicts a protein consisting of 114 amino acids. Northern blot analysis indicated that the MIF mRNA was expressed in a wide variety of organs, including the brain, kidney, and liver. Following this, we demonstrated definitively that MIF was expressed in a variety of cells, suggesting its involvement in various biological events such as wound healing, atopic dermatitis, and, possibly, diabetes/obesity. Furthermore, we elucidated its physicochemical properties, including the tertiary structures of both human and rat MIF. These tertiary structures showed that this protein forms a homotrimer with each monomer consisting of two beta/alpha/beta motifs, thus resembling 5-carboxymethyl-2-hydroxymuconate isomerase and d-dopachrome tautomerase. From the available data on MIF, including ours, it is considered that the protein is associated not only with immune responses but also with cell growth and differentiation during wound repair and carcinogenesis. Thus, MIF could become a major target protein in a variety of pathophysiological states and anti-MIF antibodies and antagonists could be applied therapeutically in the clinical situation for treatment of various diseases. Bearing this in mind, this review discusses the role of MIF, considering its gene and protein structures as well as its pathophysiological functions in various organs and disease states, finally considering perspectives for the future.
Int J Mol Med 1998 Jul
PMID:Novel pathophysiological aspects of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (review). 985 38

Mutations in the leptin gene can result in profound obesity in both rodents and humans. In humans, serum leptin levels correlate with body mass index (BMI: kg m(-2)). However, in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) leptin levels are lower than in BMI-matched healthy controls. We had previously argued that genes involved in weight regulation should be considered as candidate genes for AN. To investigate this hypothesis we screened the coding region of the leptin gene and part of the leptin gene linked upstream region (LEGLUR) in 49 patients with AN and 315 children and adolescents with extreme obesity. Two novel mutations in the coding region (Ser-91-Ser; Glu-126-Gln), each found in a single proband, and a novel polymorphism in the LEGLUR (position -1387 G/A; frequency of both alleles approximately 0.50) were identified. Tests for association of LEGLUR polymorphism alleles were negative by comparing allele frequencies between 115 AN patients, 71 bulimia nervosa patients, 315 extremely obese children and adolescents, 141 healthy underweights and 50 controls that were not selected for body weight. Tests for transmission disequilibrium were also negative. Hence, an influence of variations in the leptin gene on eating disorders or extreme early onset obesity could not be detected.
Mol Psychiatry 1998 Nov
PMID:No evidence for involvement of the leptin gene in anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, underweight or early onset extreme obesity: identification of two novel mutations in the coding sequence and a novel polymorphism in the leptin gene linked upstream region. 985 70

The tissue-specific expression of the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHc) has been studied in an animal model of obesity with hyperinsulinemia, the obese (fa/fa) Zucker rat. Liver and heart were obtained from 4 and 8 week-old obese rats and age-matched lean animals, and in each tissue the following parameters were analyzed: (1) total activity of the mitochondrial PDHc; (2) abundance of the mitochondrial PDHc subunits on Western blots; and (3) abundance of the E1alpha and E1beta subunit mRNAs on Northern blots and semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Regardless of age, obese rats showed an increase in liver total PDHc activity and a coordinate increase in liver E1alpha and E1beta PDHc subunit abundance. At 4 weeks, obese rats also showed an increase in liver PDH E1alpha mRNA level, but regardless of age E1beta mRNA level was unchanged. In contrast, neither total PDHc activity nor the concentration of its protein subunits were increased in heart of obese rats. Thus, obese Zucker rats display a liver-specific early increase in PDHc which results from a selective up-regulation of the E1alpha gene expression.
Mol Cell Endocrinol 1998 Sep 25
PMID:Longitudinal study of tissue- and subunit-specific obesity-induced regulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. 986 34

PCOS women are uniquely insulin resistant. The underlying genetic defect in insulin action is unknown. Obesity aggravates the underlying predisposition to insulin resistance. Diagnostic criteria which focus on menstrual irregularity are more likely to identify insulin resistant women. About 40% of PCOS women display glucose intolerance (either impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes) in response to an oral glucose challenge. The lack of a clear etiologic mechanism to the syndrome has led to a multitude of symptom-oriented treatments with few therapies improving all aspects of the endocrine syndrome of PCOS. Empirical studies of interventions improving insulin sensitivity in PCOS, either weight loss/diet programs or pharmaceutical agents, have been shown to improve the endocrine abnormalities in the syndrome. These initial results with anti-diabetic agents, though promising, need to be confirmed in larger, randomized studies.
Mol Cell Endocrinol 1998 Oct 25
PMID:Insulin resistance in polycystic ovary syndrome: treating a phenotype without a genotype. 992 6

The tumour necrosis factor (TNF)2 allele appears to be linked with increased insulin resistance and obesity, conditions often found in overweight patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The significance of TNFalpha polymorphism in relation to the clinical and biochemical parameters associated with PCOS was investigated in 122 well-characterized patients with polycystic ovaries (PCO). Of these, 84 had an abnormal menstrual cycle and were classified as having PCOS, while the remaining 38 had a normal menstrual cycle and were classified as having PCO. There were a further 28 individuals without PCO (non-PCO) and 108 individuals whose PCO status was undetermined (reference population). The promoter region of the TNFalpha gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the presence or absence of the polymorphism at -308 was determined by single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. The less common TNF allele (TNF2) was found as TNF1/2 or TNF2/2 in 11/38 (29%) of PCO subjects, 25/84 (30%) of PCOS subjects, 7/28 (25%) of non-PCO subjects, and 45/108 (42%) of the reference population. There was no significant difference in the incidence of the TNF2 allele between the groups. The relationship of TNF genotype to clinical and biochemical parameters was examined. In both the PCO group and the PCOS group, the presence of the TNF2 allele was significantly associated with lower glucose values obtained from the glucose tolerance testing (P<0.05). The TNF genotype was not significantly associated with any clinical or biochemical parameter measured in the PCO, PCOS or non-PCOS groups. Thus, the TNFalpha -308 polymorphism does not appear to strongly influence genetic susceptibility to polycystic ovaries.
Mol Hum Reprod 1999 Jan
PMID:No association between the -308 polymorphism in the tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) promoter region and polycystic ovaries. 1005 Jun 54


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