Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Aim: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease resulting from the complex interaction among multiple genes, environmental factors and the immune system. Genome-wide association studies identified ERBB3 (Erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 3) gene as a main susceptibility locus for T1DM. This gene encodes a member of the family of intracellular receptors of protein tyrosine kinases, which activates multiple signaling pathways including PI3K-Ak...

Introduction: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the major cause of end-stage renal disease; however, the pathogenesis of this disease is not fully understood. Currently available therapies are not totally efficacious in the treatment and prognosis of DKD, suggesting that further understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of this disease is necessary to improve its management. Recently, research on microRNAs (miRNAs) has become a hotspot because of the...

Introduction: Pancreatic islet transplantation is an attractive approach to re-establish glycemic homeostasis in patients with brittle type 1 diabetes. However, islet damage along the isolation procedure limits the availability of viable islets for transplantation. The donor’s brain death (BD) is among the factors contributing for islet quality loss in this scenario. Exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) analog, exerts anti-inflammatory effects leading to an increas...

Introduction: Viral pathogens seem to play a role in triggering the autoimmune destruction that leads to type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) development. Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) has been shown to recognize double-stranded RNA, a molecular signature of most viruses. It is expressed at high levels in pancreatic beta-cells and immune cells, suggesting a role for it in the T1DM pathogenesis. Therefore, the aim of this study was investigate if TLR3 polymorphisms are associ...

Introduction: Long-term insulin independence after pancreatic islet transplantation depends on the engraftment of a large number of viable islets. However, the yield and quality of islets isolated from brain-death (BD) donors are negatively affected by upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines and by hypoxia and oxidative stress that occurs during the BD status. Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are mitochondrial transporters present in the inner mitochondrial membrane and are associ...

Introduction: Some studies have reported associations between five uncoupling protein (UCP) 1–3 polymorphisms and obesity. This paper describes a case–control study and a meta-analysis conducted to determine if the following polymorphisms are associated with obesity: −3826A/G (UCP1); −866G/A, Ala55Val and Ins/Del (UCP2) and −55C/T (UCP3).Methods: The case–control study enrolled 282 obese and 483...

Background and aims: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a common microvascular complication that affects 40% of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Emerging evidence suggests a role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in the development of DKD. In this context, miR-15a-5p and miR-30e-5p have been shown to regulate the expression of the uncoupling protein 2, a mitochondrial protein that decreases reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation by mitochondria. Since ROS overproduction is a key cont...

Background and aims: In adipose tissue, excess of energy is stored inside cytosolic lipid droplets as triglycerides. During fasting or exercise, the stored fat is mobilized for utilization as free fatty acids and glycerol via lipolysis. The complete lipolysis of triglycerides is mediated by the orchestrated activation of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and hormone-sensitive lipase, which have been associated with obesity. There is compelling evidence that the protein compar...

Aims: Some studies have reported associations between uncoupling protein (UCP) 1–3 polymorphisms and obesity or related-features. However, other studies have failed to confirm these associations. Thus, this study describes a cross-sectional study and a meta-analysis conducted to attempt to determine whether the -3826A/G (UCP1), -866G/A, Ala55Val and Ins/Del (UCP2) and -55C/T (UCP3) polymorphisms are associated with body mass index (BMI)...

Context: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a common microvascular complication that affects approximately 40% of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). This complication is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in patients starting renal replacement therapy and is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality. Although a tight glycemic control is able to reduce the development and delay the progression of DKD, current therapies are still not totally effective ...