Immunology, Endocrine & Metabolic Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Immunology, Endocrine and Metabolic Agents) - Volume 15, Issue 1, 2015

Thyroid hormones affect growth, development and metabolism of vertebrates, and are considered the main regulators of their homeostasis. On the other hand, elevated circulating levels of thyroid hormones are associated with modifications in the whole organism (weight loss and increased metabolism and temperature) and in several body regions. Indeed, tachycardia, atrial arrhythmias, heart failure, muscle weakness and Read More

Thyroid hormones (THs) are important regulators of cell physiology. They are essential for the normal development and growth of mammals, especially for the neural differentiation and the regulation of the metabolism and the immune system. THs also induce the proliferation of several cell types. In human and murine T cell lymphomas (TCL) this effect involves the participation of genomic and nongenomic mechanisms a Read More

Thyroid hormones (THs) and their metabolites are potent regulators of energy and lipid metabolism in the liver. Besides the physiological role of THs in liver cell homeostasis, thyroid dysfunctions have been shown to play an essential part in the onset and progression of some liver diseases. Among these, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the current leading reason of development of chronic liver diseases worldwide, Read More

Anxiety and cognition are both linked to deficits in thyroid hormone concentrations in humans and in rodent models. Both processes have also been shown to be affected by the loss of the thyroid hormone receptors (TR) or by mutant transgenic TRs. Specifically, the unbalanced action of the unliganded TRα1 is thought to be important in the memory deficit and extreme anxiety seen in transgenic mice. The contribution of TRβ Read More

Nongenomic effects of thyroid hormones typically start at the cell surface and do not primarily involve the classical nuclear receptors, but rather a plasma membrane receptor site identified about ten years ago on the integrin αvβ3. Transduction of the thyroid hormone signal from this integrin receptor involves activation of the MAPK pathway and may lead to events such as angiogenesis or tumor cell proliferation. This review f Read More

Several recent studies suggest that thyroid hormones role is not completely understood in insulin resistance as well as in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Through the perturbation of gene expression linked to glucose metabolism both hyper- and hypothyroidism may cause impaired glucose utilization in skeletal muscle or overproduction of hepatic glucose, thus contributing to the induction of insulin resistance. The co Read More

Genomic actions of thyroid hormone require the intranuclear binding by nuclear thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) of 3,5,3’-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3). Nongenomic actions of the hormone have been described that are initiated at the plasma membrane, in cytoplasm or in the mitochondrion. These are complex processes associated with maintenance of the cytoskeleton, control of cell respiration, cell proliferation—including tumor c Read More