Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Depressive mood consequent to hypothyroidism can be reversed with levothyroxine (LT4) replacement therapy. However, it is unclear whether increasing LT4 dose confers additional mood benefits.Methods: This was a single-blind before-and-after study of 26 patients with hypothyroidism who were aged 65 years or older and undergoing LT4 replacement therapy. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-K) and Hyperthyroid Symptom Scale (HSS-K) were assessed at b...

Glucocorticoids (GCs) have an important role in inflammation, apoptosis and immunosuppression and are among the most widely prescribed medications in clinical practice. GCs exert their effect by binding to the transcription factor, glucocorticoid receptor (GR). GCs are used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) as they induce apoptosis in lymphoid cells, however resistance and side effects still occur frequently. Computational modeling has enormous potential ...

The LH receptor (LHR) is a 7-transmembrane domain G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) mainly expressed in the gonads with a major role in the development and maintenance of gonadal steroidogenesis and gametogenesis. Its ligand LH, secreted by the pituitary gland, binds to the extracellular domain of LHR triggering a conformational change in the transmembrane domain and leading to activation of intracellular signalling cascades.As a member of the GPCR famil...

Background: Optimal production of cellular energy and metabolites in mitochondria is one of the most important factors in endocrine organs that accomplish the momentary adaptation to ligand stimulation, such as insulin secretion and aldosterone biosynthesis. Although it has been suggested that thyroid gland function is also largely dependent on mitochondrial function, functional behavior of thyroid gland on compromised mitochondrial function remained to be identified. In this ...

Although non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients are rapidly growing, there is not optimal therapy to improve NAFLD. NAFLD is strongly associated with insulin resistance. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) activator thiazolidinediones (TZD) is an insulin sensitizer, and have been focused as the drug for NAFLD. However, the TZD remain debate as drug of choice on NAFLD because of its conflicting results on the hepatic steatosis and fibrosis. Lobegli...

Background: Recently, the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index has been considered a surrogate marker of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a well known pathogenic factor in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, few studies have investigated the relationship between the TyG index and liver fibrosis in subjects with NAFLD. Thus, we investigated the relationship between the TyG index and liver fibrosis in Korean adults.Methods: In total, 51...

CDC73 (also known as HRPT2) encodes parafibromin and is known to be the causative gene of hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor (HPT-JT) syndrome. There is no known ubiquitination of parafibromin, and the deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) for parafibromin has not been identified to date. Full-length DUB cDNAs encoding 58 family members of ubiquitin specific proteases (USPs) were subcloned. The DUB cDNA was used to identify parafibromin interacting by yeast two-hybrid screening. W...

Objective: Apolipoprotein B/Apolipoprotein A-1 ratio (Apo B/Apo A-1) and lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) are known to be associated with atherosclerotic vascular disease. We investigated the influence of Apo B/Apo A-1 and Lp(a) on coronary artery calcification (CAC) among healthy Korean adults.Methods: A total of 1081 participants underwent cardiac computed tomography in health promotion center were enrolled. Anthropometric profiles and multiple cardiovascular r...

Background: Although anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is found in less than 2% of patients with thyroid cancer, it is the most advanced, aggressive and lethal. ATC is known to develop from well-differentiated thyroid cancers, such as follicular thyroid cancer, and it is undifferentiated itself. Among the thyroid-specific transcription factors that are critical for the function of thyroid, the expression of thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF1), or NKX2.1, has been reported to c...

Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) activation is associated with metabolic diseases including hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, allergies, and cancer. We report here a new series of allosteric PDK4 inhibitor modified from hit anthraquinone. A novel PDK4 inhibitor, namely compound 8c, improved glucose tolerance in diet-induced obese mice. PDH activity in muscle and liver was enhance d by compound 8c treatment. Given the importance of PDK4 in immune cells including mast cel...