Oxytocin and Related Peptide Hormones: Candidate Anti-Inflammatory Therapy in Early Stages of Sepsis.

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening systemic inflammatory syndrome characterized by dysregulated host immunological responses to infection. Uncontrolled immune cell activation and exponential elevation in circulating cytokines can lead to sepsis, septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and death. Sepsis is associated with high re-hospitalization and recovery may be incomplete, with long term sequelae including post-sepsis syndrome. Consequently, sepsis continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality across the world. In our recent review of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), we noted that its major properties including promotion of fertility, parturition, and lactation were described over a century ago. By contrast, the anti-inflammatory properties of this hormone have been recognized only more recently. Vasopressin, a hormone best known for its anti-diuretic effect, also has anti-inflammatory actions. Surprisingly, vasopressin's close cousin, oxytocin, has broader and more potent anti-inflammatory effects than vasopressin and a larger number of pre-clinical studies supporting its potential role in limiting sepsis-associated organ damage. This review explores possible links between oxytocin and related octapeptide hormones and sepsis-related modulation of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory activities.

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and Related Peptides: Candidate Anti-Inflammatory Therapy in Early Stages of Sepsis.

Sepsis continues to be a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and post-recovery disability in patients with a wide range of non-infectious and infectious inflammatory disorders, including COVID-19. The clinical onset of sepsis is often marked by the explosive release into the extracellular fluids of a multiplicity of host-derived cytokines and other pro-inflammatory hormone-like messengers from endogenous sources ("cytokine storm"). In patients with sepsis, therapies to counter the pro-inflammatory torrent, even when administered early, typically fall short. The major focus of our proposed essay is to promote pre-clinical studies with hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) as a potential anti-inflammatory therapy for sepsis.

Etiological Association Between Psoriasis and Thyroid Diseases.

Psoriasis is a chronic relapsing/remitting autoimmune disease affecting skin and fingernails. It is associated with many other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, Crohn's disease, and thyroid diseases. Two important autoimmune thyroid diseases - Hashimoto's thyroiditis (hypothyroidism) and Grave's disease (hyperthyroidism) - affect the body's significant organs such as the brain, muscles, digestive function, and the skin. Although some studies have established the connection between psoriasis and thyroid diseases with autoimmunity, our article provides an in-depth analysis of the connection between these two diseases and other common etiological factors associated with them, along with autoimmunity. We reviewed articles from PubMed using regular keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords and finalized 45 articles to find an association between these two diseases. These articles showed that this association is more prevalent in obese patients and late-onset psoriasis. Most of the articles showed a positive association, but few articles showed no connection between them. However, there is no concrete explanation to prove the association due to limited research; additional studies are necessary. It requires the attention of both clinicians and researchers to develop a universal drug that will work on both diseases, and also thyroid evaluation could be included in psoriatic patient care so that there is a possibility to decrease cost and efforts while treating these diseases.

Liver and Cardiac Involvement in Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome: A Literature Review.

Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is an autosomal recessive inherited disease of the SBDS gene. It has multi-organ involvement but primarily affects the bone marrow and the pancreas. This disease is more commonly found in males than females, and its earliest manifestation in infancy is pancytopenia, most especially neutropenia. Our article attempts an in-depth analysis of the hepatic and cardiac association in this disease and the severity of this association. For the purpose of this study, we engaged in an in-depth research of critically appraised literature and published articles. We searched for such articles on PubMed and Google Scholar using regular and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords. We eventually selected 32 articles from the search results and carefully read through and analyzed them. These articles showed the usual age of diagnosis of SDS to be at infancy (before age one), with a predominantly median survival age of 35 years. All the published articles we reviewed showed some hepatic and cardiac associations with SDS, but the extent of the associations varied. Even though most hepatic involvements were found to be benign, some severe cases led to fibrosis and hepatic failure. Although there is no particular consensus as to the exact outcome of cardiac involvement, the few cases we reviewed showed that cardiac association could be a severe complication and could even be fatal. Most of the cases reported in the literature had been diagnosed at autopsy.

Ghrelin as an Anti-Sepsis Peptide: Review.

Sepsis continues to produce widespread inflammation, illness, and death, prompting intensive research aimed at uncovering causes and therapies. In this article, we focus on ghrelin, an endogenous peptide with promise as a potent anti-inflammatory agent. Ghrelin was discovered, tracked, and isolated from stomach cells based on its ability to stimulate release of growth hormone. It also stimulates appetite and is shown to be anti-inflammatory in a wide range of tissues. The anti-inflammatory effects mediated by ghrelin are a result of both the stimulation of anti-inflammatory processes and an inhibition of pro-inflammatory forces. Anti-inflammatory processes are promoted in a broad range of tissues including the hypothalamus and vagus nerve as well as in a broad range of immune cells. Aged rodents have reduced levels of growth hormone (GH) and diminished immune responses; ghrelin administration boosts GH levels and immune response. The anti-inflammatory functions of ghrelin, well displayed in preclinical animal models of sepsis, are just being charted in patients, with expectations that ghrelin and growth hormone might improve outcomes in patients with sepsis.