The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) play important roles in both physiological and pathological conditions such as cell differentiation, lipolysis, control of glucose metabolism, immunity, and inflammation. In fact, recent studies suggest that the thiazolidinedione (TZD) class of PPAR-gamma ligands, like glucocorticoids, may also be clinicall...

In Western culture, excess visceral fat accumulation or obesity has reached epidemic proportions, resulting in metabolic syndrome. However, more than 10 years of research has shown that adipocytes also function as endocrine cells that release various bioactive substances, so called "adipocytokines or adipokines", that play a major role in the regulation of food intake, insulin sensitivity, ener...

Gliomas cells are the site of numerous metabolic and thermodynamics abnormalities with an increasing entropy rate which is characteristic of irreversible processes driven by changes in Gibbs energy, heat production, intracellular acidity, membrane potential gradient, and ionic conductance. We focus our review on the opposing interactions observed in glioma between the canonical WNT/beta-catenin...

All fibrates are peroxisome proliferators-activated receptors (PPARs)-alpha agonists with ability to decrease triglyceride and increase high density lipoprotein- cholesterol (HDL-C). However, bezafibrate has a unique characteristic profile of action since it activates all three PPAR subtypes (alpha, gamma and delta) at comparable doses. Therefore, bezafibrate operates as a pan-agonist for all t...

Adipose tissue plays an important role in energy balance and metabolism and is the major target for insulin-sensitizing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma agonists. The angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker telmisartan, a partial agonist of PPAR-gamma, has been demonstrated to improve insulin sensitivity. However, there is uncertainty about the sites of its action. Here, w...

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) has been implicated in many processes during normal and pathological pregnancies. In the human fetal membranes, PTHrP exhibits cytokine-like actions. We have recently shown that inhibitors of the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) and activators of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma signalling pathways down-regulate cytokine r...

There is accumulating evidence that omega-3 fatty acids may modulate immune responses. When monocytes were differentiated to dendritic cells (DCs) in the presence of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the expression of costimulatory and antigen presentation markers was altered in a concentration-dependent way, positively or negatively, depending on the markers tested and the maturation stage of the DC...

We previously reported a syndrome of severe hyperinsulinemia and early-onset hypertension in three patients with dominant-negative mutations in the nuclear hormone receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma. We now report the results of further detailed pathophysiological evaluation of these subjects, the identification of affected prepubertal children within one of the or...

OBJECTIVES PPAR-gamma agonists are able to inhibit pituitary tumour development and tumoral hormonal secretion in rodents both in vitro and in vivo. Their use for treatment of Cushing Disease (CD) has been suggested but the clinical experience with the two PPAR-gamma agonists commercially available (rosiglitazone and pioglitazone) was not impressive. Short-time treatment has been proposed to be...

Reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzyme Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) plays an important role in vascular responsiveness. However, it remains unknown whether statin restores vascular dysfunction through the activation of reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzymes in vivo. We hypothesized that pitavastatin restores vascular fu...