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Hepatokines
Hepatokines (Greek ''heapto-'', liver; and ''-kinos'', movement) are proteins produced by liver cells (hepatocytes) that are secreted into the circulation and function as hormones across the organism. Research is mostly focused on hepatokines that play a role in the regulation of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and fatty liver and include: Adropin, ANGPTL4, Fetuin-A, Fetuin-B, FGF-21, Hepassocin, LECT2, RBP4, Selenoprotein P, Sex hormone-binding globulin. Function Hepatokines are hormone-like proteins secreted by hepatocytes, and many have been associated with extra-hepatic metabolic regulation. Through processes like autocrinem, paracrinem, and endocrine signaling, hepatokines can influence metabolic processes. It has been stated that, "hepatocytes secrete more than 560 types of hepatokines, many of which regulate metabolic and inflammatory diseases in the liver or at distant organs through circulation delivery." Hepatocytes can secrete multiple hepatokines into the ...
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Liver
The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of various proteins and various other Biochemistry, biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it is located in the quadrants and regions of abdomen, right upper quadrant of the abdomen, below the thoracic diaphragm, diaphragm and mostly shielded by the lower right rib cage. Its other metabolic roles include carbohydrate metabolism, the production of a number of hormones, conversion and storage of nutrients such as glucose and glycogen, and the decomposition of red blood cells. Anatomical and medical terminology often use the prefix List of medical roots, suffixes and prefixes#H, ''hepat-'' from ἡπατο-, from the Greek language, Greek word for liver, such as hepatology, and hepatitis The liver is also an accessory digestive ...
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LECT2
Leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin-2 (LECT2) is a protein first described in 1996 as a chemotactic factor for neutrophils, i.e. it stimulated human neutrophils to move directionally in an in vitro assay system. The protein was detected in and purified from cultures of Phytohaemagglutinin-activated human T-cell leukemia SKW-3 cells. Subsequent studies have defined LECT2 as a hepatokine, i.e. a substance made and released into the circulation by liver hepatocyte cells that regulates the function of other cells: it is a hepatocyte-derived, hormone-like, signaling protein. LECT2 has been detected in the blood and other tissues in a wide range of animal species from zebrafish to man. Furthermore, its levels in these tissues often change as a function of various diseases. These findings indicate that LECT is an evolutionary conserved protein, has one or more important functions, and may be involved in various diseases. However, LECT2's relationships to these diseases requires much furthe ...
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Endocrinology
Endocrinology (from ''endocrine system, endocrine'' + ''wikt:-logy#Suffix, -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events proliferation, growth, and differentiation, and the psychological or behavioral activities of metabolism, human development (biology), growth and development, tissue (biology), tissue function, sleep, digestion, Respiration (physiology), respiration, excretion, mood (psychology), mood, Stress (physiology), stress, lactation, Motor coordination, movement, reproduction, and sensory perception caused by hormones. Specializations include behavioral endocrinology and comparative endocrinology. The endocrine system consists of several glands, all in different parts of the body, that secrete hormones directly into the blood rather than into a Duct (anatomy), duct system. Therefore, endocrine glands are regarde ...
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Myokine
A myokine is one of several hundred cytokines or other small proteins (~5–20 kDa) and proteoglycan peptides that are produced and released by skeletal muscle cells (muscle fibers) in response to muscular contractions. They have autocrine, paracrine and/or endocrine effects; their systemic effects occur at picomolar concentrations. Receptors for myokines are found on muscle, fat, liver, pancreas, bone, heart, immune, and brain cells. The location of these receptors reflects the fact that myokines have multiple functions. Foremost, they are involved in exercise-associated metabolic changes, as well as in the metabolic changes following training adaptation. They also participate in tissue regeneration and repair, maintenance of healthy bodily functioning, immunomodulation; and cell signaling, expression and differentiation. History The definition and use of the term myokine first occurred in 2003. In 2008, the first myokine, myostatin, was identified. The gp130 receptor cytok ...
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Adipokine
The adipokines, or adipocytokines (Greek ', fat; ', cell; and ', movement) are cytokines (cell signaling proteins) secreted by adipose tissue. Some contribute to an obesity-related low-grade state of inflammation or to the development of metabolic syndrome, a constellation of diseases including, but not limited to, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis. The first adipokine to be discovered was leptin in 1994. Since that time, hundreds of adipokines have been discovered. Members include: * Leptin * Adiponectin * Apelin * chemerin * interleukin-6 (IL-6) * monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) * plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) * retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) * tumor necrosis factor * visfatin * omentin * vaspin (SERPINA12) * progranulin * CTRP-4 Interleukin 8 (IL-8), interleukin 10 (IL-10), interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and inducible protein 10 (IP-10 or CXCL10) have been shown to be associated with excessive body weight. See also * Adip ...
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ANGPTL8
ANGPTL8 (also known as lipasin, previously betatrophin) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''C19orf80'' gene. Gene The ANGPTL8 gene lies on mouse chromosome 9 (gene symbol: ''Gm6484'') and on human chromosome 19 (gene symbol: ''C19orf80''). Discovery The ANGPTL8 gene was discovered in 2012 as RIFL, Lipasin, and ANGPTL8. In 2013 it was suggested by Melton and Yi from Harvard that ANGPTL8 promotes mouse pancreatic islet cell proliferation. These results led the authors to propose an alternative name for ANGPTL8, betatrophin. However, the link between ANGPTL8 and islet proliferation was quickly proven false by other researchers. In fact, in December 2016 the original paper by Melton and Yi was retracted, putting the link between ANGPTL8 and islets cells to rest. Nevertheless, the name betatrophin continues to be used. Given the homology of ANGPTL8 with ANGPTL4 and ANGPTL3, and considering that ANGPTL8 does not promote beta cell proliferation, the name betatrophin sho ...
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Sex Hormone-binding Globulin
Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) or sex steroid-binding globulin (SSBG) is a glycoprotein that binds to androgens and estrogens. When produced by the Sertoli cells in the seminiferous tubules of the testis, it is called androgen-binding protein (ABP). Other steroid hormones such as progesterone, cortisol, and other corticosteroids are bound by transcortin. SHBG is found in all vertebrates apart from birds. Function Testosterone and estradiol circulate in the bloodstream, loosely bound mostly to serum albumin (~54%), and to a lesser extent bound tightly to SHBG (~44%). Only a very small fraction of about 1 to 2% is unbound, or "free," and thus biologically active and able to enter a cell and activate its receptor. SHBG inhibits the function of these hormones. Thus, the local bioavailability of sex hormones is influenced by the level of SHBG. Because SHBG binds to testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), these hormones are made less lipophilic and become concentrated ...
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Selenoprotein P
In molecular biology, the protein domain selenoprotein P (SelP) is the only known eukaryotic selenoprotein that contains multiple selenocysteine (Sec) residues. It is a secreted glycoprotein, often found in the plasma. Its precise function remains to be elucidated; however, it is thought to have antioxidant properties. This particular protein contains two domains: the C terminal and N terminal domain. The N-terminal domain is larger than the C terminal and the N-terminal is thought to be glycosylated. The human version is SEPP1. Function SelP may have antioxidant properties. It can attach to epithelial cells, and may protect vascular endothelial cells against peroxynitrite toxicity. The high selenium content of SelP suggests that it may be involved in selenium intercellular transport or storage. The promoter structure of bovine SelP suggests that it may be involved in countering heavy metal intoxication, and may also have a developmental function. Structure The N-terminal re ...
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Retinol Binding Protein 4
Retinol binding protein 4, also known as RBP4, is a transporter protein for retinol (vitamin A alcohol). RBP4 has a molecular weight of approximately 21 kDa and is encoded by the ''RBP4'' gene in humans. It is mainly, though not exclusively, synthesized in the liver and circulates in the bloodstream as a hepatokine bound to retinol in a complex with transthyretin. RBP4 has been a drug target for ophthalmology research due to its role in vision. RBP4 may also be involved in metabolic diseases as suggested by recent studies. Function This protein belongs to the lipocalin family and is the specific carrier for retinol (vitamin A) in the blood. It delivers retinol from the liver stores to the peripheral tissues. In plasma, the RBP-retinol complex interacts with transthyretin, which prevents its loss by filtration through the kidney glomerulus (kidney), glomeruli. A deficiency of vitamin A blocks secretion of the binding protein posttranslationally and results in defective delivery ...
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Hepassocin
Fibrinogen-like protein 1 (FGL-1) is a protein that is structurally related to fibrinogen. In humans, FGL-1 is encoded by the ''FGL1'' gene. It is classified as a hepatokine. Four splice variants exist for this gene. Function Fibrinogen-like protein 1 is a member of the fibrinogen family of proteins, which also includes fibrinogen, fibrinogen-like protein 2, and clotting factors V, VIII, and XIII. FGL-1 is homologous to the carboxy terminus of the fibrinogen beta- and gamma- subunits which contains the four conserved cysteines of that are common to all members of the fibrinogen family. However, FGL-1 lacks the platelet-binding site, cross-linking region, and thrombin-sensitive site which allow the other members of the fibrinogen family to aid in fibrin clot formation. FGL-1 has also been observed to strongly bind to and activate LAG-3, a regulatory protein expressed on T cells. As LAG-3 has an important role in controlling activated T cells, manipulating FGL-1 binding ...
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Protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, Cell signaling, responding to stimuli, providing Cytoskeleton, structure to cells and Fibrous protein, organisms, and Intracellular transport, transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the Nucleic acid sequence, nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific Protein structure, 3D structure that determines its activity. A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called pep ...
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