Research on the variants of FGFR1 and CEP290 genes in idiopathic hypogonadotropin hypogonadism.

Idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) is a rare endocrine disease characterized by gonadal dysplasia. According to whether the sense of smell is affected, this disorder is classified into Kallmann syndrome (KS) and normosmic isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (nIHH). In this study, we reported a case of nIHH patient and explored the pathogenic mechanism of FGFR1 in nIHH. A FGFR1 variant (c.2008G>A, p.E670K) and a CEP290 variant (c.964G>A, p.D322N) were detected by the whole exome sequencing in this nIHH patient. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that this FGFR1 variant (c.2008G>A) causes structural perturbations in TK2 domain demonstrating that this variant result in FGFR1 loss-of-function and abnormal signaling. The identification of an additional CEP290 variant (c.964G>A) indicated that CEP290 might play a potential role in developmental abnormalities and inhibition of GnRH neuron release. A protein interaction network analysis showed that CEP290 was predicted to interact with FGFR1. In summary, our study identified the potential pathogenic mechanism(s) of the novel FGFR1 variant and indicated that CEP290 might play a role in the GnRH neuron migration route. Our findings expand the mutation spectrum of FGFR1 and CEP290 and provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment of IHH.

Review on the effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease and it represents the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome, which includes type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), dyslipidemia, central obesity and hypertension. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors were widely used to treat T2DM. These agents improve glycemic control, promote weight loss and improve lipid metabolism. Recent studies have demonstrated that the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) is present and functional in human and rat hepatocytes. In this review, we present data from animal researches and human clinical studies that showed GLP-1 analogues and DPP-4 inhibitors can decrease hepatic triglyceride (TG) content and improve hepatic steatosis, although some effects could be a result of improvements in metabolic parameters. Multiple hepatocyte signal transduction pathways and mRNA from key enzymes in fatty acid metabolism appear to be activated by GLP-1 and its analogues. Thus, the data support the need for more rigorous prospective clinical trials to further investigate the potential of incretin therapies to treat patients with NAFLD.