Endocrine Abstracts

In recent years, scalp hair analysis had been successfully introduced as a novel biomarker for long-term cortisol levels. Traditionally used methods to measure cortisol (blood, saliva, urine) are complicated by the circadian rhythm and pulsatile way of cortisol secretion, as well as the influence of acute stress and day-to-day variation. In contrast to these short-term measurements, hair cortisol analysis allows to quantify the average cortisol production for a prolonged perio...

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder. In adults the syndrome is characterized by muscular hypotonia, hyperphagia, increased risk of morbid obesity and behavioral problems. Endocrine insufficiencies are common, although insufficient function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis seems to be rare. The effect of long term exposure to cortisol, which is associated with stress and obesity, is unknown in PWS. Measurement o...

Introduction: Melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) is a G-protein-coupled receptor expressed in regions of the hypothalamus regulating appetite and energy expenditure. Extensive evidence from genetic and biological studies show that MC4R is a key player in the homeostatic regulation of body weight. MC4R loss of function (LoF) variants are the most common cause of monogenic obesity. We have identified 13 heterozygous MC4R variants in patients with obesity at our academic Obesity Cent...

IntroductionObesity is highly prevalent, comes with serious health burden and is difficult to treat. In a minority, there is a genetic cause for the obesity. In these patients, therapy-resistant obesity is often observed despite intensive lifestyle treatment. Moreover, it is still unclear whether bariatric surgery is less successful in genetic obesity. Liraglutide is a Glucagon-Like-Peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist or GLP-1 analogue, showing positive e...

IntroductionRecently, cross-sectional studies report associations between long-term glucocorticoid levels in scalp hair (HairGC) and obesity. However, there is a wide variation in studied outcomes and associations, possibly caused by differences in population characteristics, e.g. age, sex, dispersion of adiposity, and used laboratory methods. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the relation between HairGC and anthropom...