Low levels of SHGB, a protein, are found in blood of overweight children and adults. This protein is essential for the human body as it transports sex steroids besides regulating their entry into tissues.

An explanation as to why low levels of SHGB are such a good marker of the metabolic syndrome was recently offered by Geoffrey Hammond and colleagues at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

From Medicalnewstoday.com:

In the study, exposure to glucose and fructose (monomeric sugar building blocks of carbohydrates) reduced the production of SHGB in vitro by a human liver cell line and in vivo by the liver of mice engineered to express human SHGB. Decreased production of SHGB was mediated by decreased expression of a protein that stimulates the gene that makes SHGB (HNF-4-alpha) and was associated with increased amounts of the fat palmitate in the liver cells. Importantly, glucose- and fructose-induced decreases in SHGB production were prevented by inhibiting palmitate generation. These data provide a mechanistic link between excess sugar and carbohydrate consumption and decreased levels of SHGB, indicating the reason it is a good marker of the metabolic syndrome.

The study results are expected to provide great help for medical practitioners for understanding and treating medical disorders that increase an individual’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease in a better manner.

Tags:  sex steroids, SHGB, Steroids, type 2 diabetes

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Female sex hormones could work with beta-agonists for reducing airway constriction, as per a new bench research from the Mayo Clinic.

The findings are being presented at the ATS 2010 International Conference in New Orleans.

From Sciencedaily.com:

“These novel data suggest that estradiol has bronchodilatory properties, and may potentiate beta-2-agonist effects,” said Ms. Townsend. “The finding that estrogens interact synergistically with beta-adrenoceptor signaling (perhaps using common pathways) to facilitate bronchodilation was exciting, and lends itself to further studies on interactions between sex steroids and beta-2-agonists.” But she and her team also cautioned that there is still considerable research necessary to fully understand the association between sex steroids and factors that contribute to asthma, before the information can be used clinically in patients to relieve asthma symptoms.

Sex steroids can play a role in modulating airway tone, as per lead student researcher, Elizabeth A. Townsend, of the Mayo Clinic Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, where she is completing her Ph.D.

Tags:  asthma, sex steroids, Steroids

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