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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Akheel Syed, Dr Chris RedfernORCiD, Dr Jolanta Weaver
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Clinical similarities between Cushing's syndrome and obesity/metabolic syndrome have led to speculation of a role for glucocorticoids (GCs) in the etiopathogenesis of obesity. People with idiopathic obesity have normal circulating cortisol concentrations. However, there may be considerable interindividual variation in GC sensitivity. The objective of this study was to determine whether enhanced GC sensitivity in the absence of GC excess was a characteristic of obese people with cushingoid features. We studied 12 obese subjects with cushingoid features in the absence of Cushing's syndrome and six slim control participants. Data recorded included BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, glucose and insulin response to 75 g oral glucose challenge, and low-dose (0.25 mg) overnight dexamethasone (DEX) suppression test (ODST-0.25 mg). To study GC-sensitivity in vitro, we performed dose–response studies of DEX-induced suppression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) secretion in skin fibroblast cultures. Seven obese subjects were normosensitive and five subjects hypersensitive to GCs in vitro. ODST-0.25 mg resulted in a median suppression of cortisol from baseline of 32% in normosensitive and 60% in hypersensitive obese subjects (P < 0.004). No other clinical or biochemical measures were discriminatory between these two groups. These data from two independent measures of GC sensitivity suggest that enhanced GC sensitivity may characterize a substantial proportion of obese people with cushingoid appearance.
Author(s): Syed AA, Redfern CPF, Weaver JU
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Obesity
Year: 2008
Volume: 16
Issue: 10
Pages: 2374-2378
ISSN (print): 1930-7381
ISSN (electronic): 1930-739X
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/oby.2008.346
DOI: 10.1038/oby.2008.346
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