Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aims: Obesity is a chronic multifactorial disease characterized by an excessive accumulation of body fat resulting from an imbalance between energy intake and caloric expenditure. Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is located in the inner mitochondrial membrane and plays an important role in the regulation of energy expenditure. NLR family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome seems to have a key role in obesity-induced inflammation through production of the ...

Background and Aims: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is caused by an autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells, which renders patients insulin-dependent for life. The disease arises from a complex interaction among several genetic and environmental factors. To date, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in >50 genes have been associated with T1DM, with HLA class II SNPs having the greatest impact on disease susceptibility. Other loci have minor effects on T...

Background and Aims: The transcription factor Gli-similar 3 (GLIS3) plays a key role in the development and maintenance of pancreatic beta-cells as well as in the regulation of Insulin gene expression in adults. Accordingly, genome-wide association studies identified GLIS3 as a susceptibility locus for type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and glucose metabolism traits. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association of the rs7020673 (G/C) and r...

Background and aim: Although chronic low-grade inflammation is observed in obese subjects, the underlying mechanisms modulating this process are still unclear. The Comparative Gene Identification-58 (CGI-58) is a lipid droplet-associated protein that has an important role in mediating intracellular fat hydrolysis by acting as a coactivator of the adipose Triglyceride Lipase (ATGL). Recent evidence suggests that CGI-58 also has a role in chronic inflammation and insulin resista...

Introduction: Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is a mitochondrial transporter present in the inner membrane of mitochondria, and it uncouples substrate oxidation from ATP synthesis, thereby dissipating the membrane potential energy and consequently decreasing ATP production by mitochondrial respiratory chain. As a consequence of the uncoupling, UCP2 decreases reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation by mitochondria. ROS overproduction is related to diabetic retinopathy (DR), a chron...

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...

Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is a mitochondrial protein located in the mitochondrial inner membrane, and it uncouples substrate oxidation from ATP synthesis, thereby dissipating the membrane potential energy and consequently decreasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation by mitochondrial respiratory chain. ROS overproduction is related to diabetic retinopathy (DR), a chronic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Recently, our group reported that the -866A/55Val/Ins haplot...

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)...