ESPE Abstracts

Background: The nuclear receptor (NR) family comprises three main subfamilies: the steroid hormones receptors, the thyroid/retinoid hormone receptors and the orphan receptors. Proteins within the NR family share common domain architecture. These closely related receptors and their cognate ligand compounds play a key role in homeostasis, reproduction, growth and development. Despite their biological significance, their evolution and diversification remains to be elucidated....

Background: Obesity in adulthood is associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length, a marker of biological age that is also associated with age-related disorders, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus.Objective and Hypotheses: To investigate the relation between BMI in childhood and adolescence and telomere length, by determining the mean telomere length of leukocytes.Patients and Method: Seven hundred fo...

Background: Glucocorticoids exert profound immune-modulating effects and regulate the expression of genes involved in cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Synthetic glucocorticoids are the most potent agents used in the treatment of inflammatory, autoimmune and lymphoproliferative disorders. Considerable variation in response to therapeutic doses of glucocorticoids exists among individuals, as evidenced by differences both in disease response and in the incidence of glucocort...

Background: Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures located at the ends of chromosomes playing a crucial role in genomic stability. They consist of tandem repeats of the noncoding hexameric TTAGGG sequence. Telomere shortening has been associated with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and stroke, and has been proposed as a biomarker for ageing and a prognostic factor for age-associated diseases.<p clas...

Background: Glucocorticoids regulate a broad spectrum of physiologic functions essential for life and exert their actions through their ubiquitously expressed glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The GR interacts with several molecules, including the non-coding RNA growth arrest-specific 5 (Gas5), which decreases the transcriptional activity of the GR by preventing its binding to DNA, and reduces tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids.Objective and Hypotheses: T...

Background: Transient Generalized Glucocorticoid Hypersensitivity (TGGH) is a rare disorder characterized by increased tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids and compensatory hypoactivation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. The condition itself and the underlying molecular mechanisms have not been fully elucidated.Objective and hypotheses: To present the clinical manifestations, endocrinologic evaluation and molecular studies in ...

Background: Transient generalized glucocorticoid hypersensitivity is a rare disorder characterized by increased tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids and compensatory hypoactivation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. The condition itself and the molecular mechanisms that underlie its pathophysiology have not been elucidated as yet. Adenovirus 36 has been reported to cause obesity in various animal species.Objective and Hypotheses...