Endocrine Abstracts

Context: Since the exact cause of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) remains unclear, the detection of novel biomarkers is necessary to complement the information obtained from the presence of autoantibodies together with genetic and environmental risk factors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression. Changes in their expression were described in several pathological conditions, including autoimmune diseases. Circul...

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...

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...

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: Polymorphisms in genes that encode proteins of the innate immune system, such as the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), could affect the immune response as well as the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Activated TLR4 induces expression of a spectrum of proinflammatory cytokines, which have been implicated in insulin resistance. Some studies have reported associations of the TLR4 Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile polymorphisms with T2DM. However, ot...

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a highly prevalent chronic metabolic disease with strong co-morbidity with obesity and cardiovascular diseases. FNDC5 gene encodes a type I membrane protein that is processed proteolytically to form a newly identified hormone secreted into the blood, termed irisin. After induction by exercise, irisin activates profound changes in the subcutaneous adipose tissue, stimulating browning and UCP1 gene expression. Th...

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: 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...