Endocrine Abstracts

IntroductionEpidemiological studies have suggested that obesity during childhood increases the risk of developing metabolic comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes, later in life. Childhood obesity is a complex disease whose molecular mechanisms are not completely elucidated. However, studies have demonstrated that approximately 65% of the variation associated with obesity is due to genetic factors. In this context, a system biology approach could contrib...

Background and aims: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is an important chronic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), and is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults. Although several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been associated with DR, more information is needed to unravel the genetics of this complex disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate expression of at least 60% of all protein-coding genes. A number of miRNAs ha...

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a chronic diabetic complication occurring in most diabetic patients after 20 years of disease. Progression of DR to its sight threatening stages is usually associated with worsening of underlying retinal vascular dysfunction and disease. The plasma kallikrein kinin system is activated during vascular injury, mediating important functions in inflammation, blood flow, and coagulation. Bradykinin B1 receptor (B1R) is expressed in human ret...

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...

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...

Background and Aim: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease resulting from the complex interaction among multiple genes, environmental factors and the immune system. Genome-wide association studies identified ERBB3 (Erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 3) gene as a main susceptibility locus for T1DM. This gene encodes a member of the family of intracellular receptors of protein tyrosine kinases, which activates multiple signaling pathways including PI3K-Ak...

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...

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...