BACKGROUND Preterm small for gestational age (SGA) infants may be at risk for increased adiposity, especially when experiencing rapid postnatal weight gain. Data on the dynamic features of body weight and fat mass (FM) gain that occurs early in life is scarce. We investigated the postnatal weight and FM gain during the first five months after term in a cohort of preterm infants. METHODOLOGY/P...

BACKGROUND Glucocorticoid (GC) treatment has variable effect in sepsis. This may be explained by decreased expression or function of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The aim of this study was to determine GR expression and binding capacity in patients during and after sepsis. METHODS In this prospective, non-interventional clinical study, peripheral blood and clinical data were collected fro...

The xenobiotic-mediated induction of three major human liver cytochrome P450 genes, CYP2B6, CYP2C9, and CYP3A4, is known to be regulated by the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and the pregnane X receptor (PXR). CAR and PXR are regulated, at least in part, by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the hypothesis of a signal transduction cascade GR-[CAR/PXR]-P450 has been proposed. This stud...

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) tumours are highly aggressive. At the time of diagnosis, patients have often developed metastases, and overall prognosis is particularly poor, making effective treatment difficult. Novel mechanisms need to be identified as treatment targets. We have previously found low levels of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in SCLC cell lines and demonstrated that over-express...

Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones cause pronounced T cell apoptosis, particularly in immature thymic T cells. This is possibly due to tissue-specific regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene. In mice the GR gene is transcribed from five separate promoters designated: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E. Nearly all cells express GR from promoters 1B-1E, but the activity of the 1A promoter has only been...

The mechanisms by which glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mediates glucocorticoid (GC)-induced apoptosis are unknown. We studied the role of mitochondrial GR in this process. Dexamethasone induces GR translocation to the mitochondria in GC-sensitive, but not in GC-resistant, T cell lines. In contrast, nuclear GR translocation occurs in all cell types. Thymic epithelial cells, which cause apoptosis o...

The glucocorticoid steroid hormone cortisol is released by the adrenal glands in response to stress and serves as a messenger in circadian rhythms. Transcriptional responses to this hormonal signal are mediated by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). We determined GR binding throughout the human genome by using chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by next-generation DNA sequencing, and measured ...

The expression of glucocorticoid receptor-α and -β (GR-α and GR-β) in the tonsil tissues of children with and without obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) was evaluated. A total of 30 children with OSAHS who underwent tonsillectomy in the Navy General Hospital from June 2012 to June 2014 were enrolled as the experimental group, and 30 non-OSAHS children were enrolled as the control...

In a previous report of two patients with familial glucocorticoid resist ance due to reduced numbers of glucocorticoid receptors (GR), we have shown decreased numbers of GR in peripheral mononuclear cells and cultured fibroblasts but normal affinity of GR in both patients. In this study, peripheral lymphocytes from these patients, one patient's son and daughter, and normal subjects were transfo...

Hsp90 is an essential and highly abundant molecular chaperone protein that has been found to regulate more than 150 eukaryotic signaling proteins, including transcription factors (e.g. nuclear receptors, p53) and protein kinases (e.g. Src, Raf, Akt kinase) involved in cell cycling, tumorigenesis, apoptosis, and multiple eukaryotic signaling pathways (1,2). Of these many 'client' proteins for hs...