Week 4 Flashcards

1
Q

What are nuclear receptors?

A

A family of ligand-regulated transcription factors that are activated by steroid hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, and various other lipid-soluble signals, including retinoic acid, oxysterols, and thyroid hormone

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2
Q

How does endocrine signalling operate?

A

The signaling molecules (hormones) are secreted by specialized endocrine cells and carried through the circulation to act on target cells at distant body sites

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3
Q

What is the hormonal system?

A

A network of glands and organs in the body that produces hormones

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4
Q

How does the hormonal system work?

A

When a hormone is released from a gland, it travels in the bloodstream through the body. It passes by most cells, but eventually reaches its target.

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5
Q

What medical conditions relate to the hormonal system?

A

Some common hormonal problems are:
- Diabetes
- Thyroid problems, such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism
- Cushing’s syndrome
- Some fertility problems
- Congenital adrenal hyperplasia

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6
Q

Examples of polypeptide/protein hormones?

A
  • Growth hormone
  • Vasopressin
  • Insulin
  • Glucagon
  • Parathyroid hormone
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7
Q

What’s the difference between peptide hormones and protein hormones?

A

Peptide hormones consist of short chains of amino acids, whereas protein hormones are longer polypeptides.

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8
Q

What are lipophilic hormones?

A

Lipid-soluble hormones

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9
Q

What is a hormone receptor?

A

A receptor molecule that binds to a specific chemical messenger.

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10
Q

What is meant by nuclear receptors?

A

Nuclear receptors are a family of ligand-regulated transcription factors that are activated by steroid hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, and various other lipid-soluble signals, including retinoic acid, oxysterols, and thyroid hormone

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11
Q

What do nuclear receptors sense?

A

Changes in lipid metabolite levels to drive differential gene expression, producing distinct physiologic effects

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12
Q

What does the allosteric binding of nuclear receptors?

A

Drives the recruitment of diverse transcriptional co‐regulators at chromatin and ultimately transactivation or transrepression of target genes

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13
Q

What does the dysregulation of nuclear receptors lead to?

A

Various malignances, metabolic disorders, and inflammatory disease

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14
Q

What ligands bind to nuclear receptors?

A

lipophilic substances such as endogenous hormones, vitamins A and D, and xenobiotic hormones

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15
Q

What is cortisol?

A

A steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones.

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16
Q

What does the biosynthesis of a hormone require?

A

The coordinated expression of the enzymes that comprise the pathways via which specific hormones are synthesized

17
Q

What does the term ‘general mechanism of action’ mean?

A

A term used to describe how a drug or other substance produces an effect in the body

18
Q

What are the different type of nuclear receptors?

A

According to this classification, nuclear receptors are grouped in seven subfamilies: NR1, NR2, NR3, NR4, NR5, NR6, and NR0

19
Q

What does SRC-3 regulate?

A

Not only the transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors but also many other transcription factors

20
Q

What does the nuclear receptor superfamily regulate?

A

Gene expression in response to endocrine signalling, and recruitment of coregulators affords these receptors considerable functional flexibility.

21
Q

What does the interplay between the tumour microenvironment and tumour cells represent?

A

A key contributor to immune evasiveness, physiological hardiness and the local and systemic invasiveness of malignant cells

22
Q

How many nuclear receptors do humans have?

A

48 nuclear receptors, which when dysregulated are often linked to diseases

23
Q

How do estrogen receptors act?

A

By regulating transcriptional processes

24
Q

What does it mean to be ER positive in breast cancer?

A

The cells of this type of breast cancer have receptors that allow them to use the hormone estrogen to grow

25
Q

What does metabolic reprogramming enable?

A

Cancer cells to adapt to the changing microenvironment in order to maintain metabolic energy and to provide the necessary biological macromolecules required for cell growth and tumor progression

26
Q

What are aromatase inhibitors?

A

A class of drugs used in the treatment of breast cancer in postmenopausal women and in men, and gynecomastia in men

27
Q

What are SERMs?

A

A class of drugs that act on the estrogen receptor.

28
Q

What is the common cause of Cushing Syndrome?

A

Most cases of Cushing’s syndrome are not genetic. However, some individuals may develop Cushing’s syndrome due to an inherited tendency to develop tumors of one or more endocrine glands.

29
Q

What is the relationship between androgens and prostate cancer?

A

Androgens are also necessary for prostate cancers to grow