Endocrine Abstracts

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are steroid hormones used to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, but their clinical efficacy is hampered by development of side effects such as impaired wound healing. GCs bind the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to mediate cellular effects. The inactive GR is held in multi-protein complex in the cytoplasm and upon ligand binding undergoes a conformational change, interacts with cytoplasmic enzymes to mediate non-genomic effects (within...

Intra-abdominal adiposity is associated with insulin resistance and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Differences in gene expression between omental (om) and subcutaneous (sc) adipose have been described, but molecular mechanisms underpinning differences in adipose biology are not known. Patients with glucocorticoid excess, Cushing’s syndrome, develop a phenotype characterized by central obesity. We have characterized the regulation of lipogenesis by gluco...

Glucocorticoid (GC) excess (Cushing’s syndrome) is characterized by central obesity, insulin resistance and in up to 20% of cases, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is a progressive spectrum of disease ranging from hepatic steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis. Many processes contribute to lipid accumulation within heaptocytes including de novo lipogenesis which includes the rate-limiting carboxylation of acetyl CoA to malonyl-CoA by a...

Glucocorticoids act through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to regulate cell function. GR gamma (GRγ) is a constitutive exon3/4 splice variant, contributing 4–8% of the total GR transcripts and is highly conserved through mammalian evolution, but its biological function remains unknown. Using microarray analysis we identified the transcriptome response for GRγ in stable HEK-Flp cells. This revealed that although GRγ effectively modulated gene expression in...

Glucocorticoids (Gc) act through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to regulate immunity, energy metabolism, and tissue repair. The inactive GR is held in the cytoplasm in a multi-protein complex, which upon ligand binding undergoes a conformational change. Activated GR translocates to the nucleus to regulate gene expression (over hours), but some effects occur more rapidly. Gc inhibit cell migration through an uncertain mechanism. We now show a very rapid effect, and surprising...

Glucocorticoids (Gc) act through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to regulate immunity, energy metabolism, and tissue repair. The inactive GR is held in the cytoplasm in a multi-protein complex, which upon ligand binding undergoes a conformational change. Activated GR translocates to the nucleus to regulate gene expression (over hours), but some effects occur more rapidly. Gc inhibit cell migration through an uncertain mechanism. We now show a very rapid effect, and surprising...

Glucocorticoids (GCs) act through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to regulate immunity, energy metabolism, and tissue repair. The inactive GR is held in the cytoplasm in a multi-protein complex, which upon ligand binding undergoes a conformational change. Activated GR translocates to the nucleus to regulate gene expression (over hours), but some effects occur more rapidly. GCs inhibit cell migration through an uncertain mechanism. We now show a very rapid effect, and surprisi...