Arieh Gertler
Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Rehovot, Israel

About this Book

The discovery of leptin, the obese (ob) gene product which is not expressed as a functional protein in ob/ob mice, focused the scientific community’s attention on its role as an anorexic hormone involved in the negative regulation of food intake. Almost 14 years after this breakthrough discovery and over 14,000 leptin‑related publications later, leptin is now known to participate in a wide range of biological functions that include, in addition to its early envisaged function as an adipostat, glucose metabolism, glucocorticoid synthesis, CD4+ T‑lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine secretion, phagocytosis, hypothalamic‑pituitary‑adrenal axis regulation, reproduction, cardiovascular pathology, bone formation, apoptosis and angiogenesis. In short, it is now well‑documented that leptin acts like a cytokine hormone with many pleiotropic effects. Furthermore, in recent years, it has become more and more apparent that many of leptin’s effects are acquired not only through its central action, but also through its systemic action on a peripheral level. This book focuses mainly on the relatively novel aspects of leptin’s actions.

Leptin’s involvement in early postnatal imprinting has led to new insight into developmental programming. This highly novel aspect of leptin’s action is reviewed extensively in the final chapter of this book by the Auckland group, Vickers, Krechowec, Gluckman and Breier. In the last five years, it has been shown that at least in rodents, leptin acts as an important neurotrophic factor promoting the early postnatal maturation of neural pathways within the hypothalamus. The authors review experimental evidence, originating largely from their own work, which shows that therapeutic intervention with leptin in the rodents’ early postnatal life can potentially reverse or substantially ameliorate the consequences of developmental malprogramming, and that this effect is highly influenced by both gender and postnatal diet.

Table of Contents

PART 1: MOLECULAR ASPECTS OF LEPTIN ACTION

Leptin Signal Transduction—A 2009 Update
Walter Becker

Insights in the Activated LR Complex and the Rational Design of Antagonists
Frank Peelman, Lennart Zabeau and Jan Tavernier

Study of Leptin: Leptin Receptor Interaction by FRET and BRET
Julie Dam, Cyril Couturier, Patty Chen and Ralf Jockers

PART 2: LEPTIN INVOLVEMENT IN PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Is Leptin a Pro or Anti-Apoptotic Agent?
Srujana Rayalam, Mary Anne Della‑Fera, Suresh Ambati and Clifton A. Baile

Leptin Actions in the Gastrointestinal Tract
Sandra Guilmeau, Thomas Aparicio, Robert Ducroc and André Bado

Leptin as a Novel Marker in Breast and Colorectal Cancer
Eva Surmacz and Mariusz Koda

The Role of Leptin in Cardiac Physiology and Pathophysiology
Morris Karmazyn, Daniel Purdham, Venkatesh Rajapurohitam and Asad Zeidan

The Role of Leptin in Bone Development and Growth
Efrat Monsonego Ornan and Michal Ben-Ami

Involvement of Leptin in Arterial Hypertension
Jerzy Beltowski

Involvement of Leptin in the Endometrial Function
Carlos Simon and Ana Cervero

The Use of Leptin for the Treatment of Lipodystrophy
Angeline Y. Chong, Elaine K. Cochran and Phillip Gorden

Use of Anti‑Leptin or Anti‑Leptin Receptor Antibodies as Blockers of Immune Response
Giuseppe Matarese and Veronica De Rosa

Use of Leptin Antagonists as Anti‑Inflammatory and Anti‑Fibrotic Reagents
Eran Elinav, Zamir Halpern and Arieh Gertler

The Role of Leptin during Early Life in Imprinting Later Metabolic Responses
Mark H. Vickers, Stefan O. Krechowec, Peter D. Gluckman and Bernhard H. Breier