Glucocorticoid is a compound that belongs to the family of compounds called corticosteroids (steroids). Glucocorticoids affect metabolism and have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. They may be naturally produced (hormones) or synthetic (drugs).
Caltech biologists have performed the first large-scale screening in a vertebrate animal for genes that regulate sleep, and have identified a gene that when overactivated causes severe insomnia. Expression of the gene, neuromedin U (Nmu), also seems to serve as nature's stimulant--fish lacking the gene take longer to wake up in the morning and are less active during the day.
Simple physics may play a larger role than previously thought in helping control key bodily processes - such as how the body fights infection.
Pomalidomide (trade name: Imnovid) has been approved since 2013 for the treatment of multiple myeloma that has returned and is difficult to treat. The drug is an option for adults who have received two or more prior treatment regimens, including treatment with the drugs lenalidomide and bortezomib, and in whom the last treatment had no sufficient effect.
Two new studies by cancer scientists at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) suggest new approaches for treating cancer by inhibiting overactive cancer-promoting genes and by enhancing the activity of sluggish tumor-suppressor genes.
Revealing a biological combat strategy worthy of a five-star general, researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital, University of Chicago and Cornell University have shown how a cell surface receptor--a specialized protein which communicates signals between a cell and the outside world--can mobilize immune cells to attack, rather than protect, malignant tumors.
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has released two new publications - recommendations aimed at improving the treatment of patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), and new classification criteria for gout.
The Endocrine Society today issued a Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) on strategies for treating Cushing's syndrome, a condition caused by overexposure to the hormone cortisol.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Sanofi have entered into a new global collaboration to discover, develop and commercialize new antibody cancer treatments in the emerging field of immuno-oncology.
There's no time to lose when an emergency doctor diagnoses „Shock lung!" at the accident scene. What physicians know as "acute lung injury" (ALI) otherwise leads to death by suffocation without immediate treatment.
The brain's effect on other parts of the body has been well established. Now, a group that includes two University of Florida Health researchers has found that it's a two-way street: Body fat can send a signal that affects the way the brain deals with stress and metabolism.
The brains of people with recurrent depression have a significantly smaller hippocampus - the part of the brain most associated with forming new memories - than healthy individuals, a new global study of nearly 9,000 people reveals.
Recently, researchers have discovered that the hormone progesterone, an ingredient in contraceptives and menopausal hormone replacement therapies, might stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells that are resistant to anti-estrogen therapy and chemotherapy.
Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have demonstrated that adolescents and young adults with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) have significantly increased amounts of abdominal fat tissue, placing them at greater risk for harmful conditions linked to obesity, including cardiovascular disease (CVD).
The results of the tREACH trial presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2015) Press Conference showed that initial therapy with combination DMARDs significantly improves measures of disease activity and functional ability in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
The comparable safety and efficacy of switching patients to a biosimilar anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibody from the reference medicinal product (RMP) has been further established in data presented at EULAR 2015, the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism.
Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated, a pharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs that treat severe metabolic, oncologic and psychiatric disorders by modulating the effects of cortisol, today announced results of a multi-center Phase 1/2 dose-escalation study of mifepristone and chemotherapy drug eribulin (Halaven) that show it is well tolerated and clinically active in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.
Researchers led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a mechanism that helps leukemia cells resist glucocorticoids, a finding that lays the foundation for more effective treatment of cancer and possibly a host of autoimmune diseases.
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have found how a widely known but little-studied enzyme protects brain cells in models of Parkinson's disease.
Sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops during sleep, is a potentially serious condition because it deprives the body of oxygen. It becomes an even more serious condition in pregnant women—who can be more prone to it—because the oxygen deprivation may affect the baby.
Basic research on blood pressure has led researchers from Inserm (Inserm Unit 1138, "Cordeliers Research Centre") to obtain unexpected results: drugs used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) reduce side effects from corticosteroid-based creams used to treat certain skin diseases.