BACKGROUND Irisin, an exercise-induced myokine, is closely correlated with obesity and body mass index. Obesity is one risk factor of coronary artery disease (CAD). Therefore, the present study aimed to determine if serum irisin concentrations are correlated with the presence and severity of CAD. MATERIAL AND METHODS Serum irisin concentrations were determined in 350 patients with CAD and in 21...

The incidence of obesity and associated co-morbidities such as insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular diseases has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. As a result, new therapeutic options for the treatment of these conditions are clearly warranted. With the failure of leptin as anti-obesity therapy, recent research has focused on the gp130 receptor ligands, in particular CNTF, ...

The increasing incidence of obesity worldwide and its related cardiometabolic complications is an urgent public health problem. While weight gain results from a negative balance between the energy expenditure and calorie intake, recent research has demonstrated that several small organic molecules containing a four-carbon backbone can modulate this balance by favoring energy expenditure, and al...

Skeletal muscle can express and release substances such as cytokines or other peptides capable of modulating metabolic processes. These cytokines, named 'myokines', function as hormones either locally within the muscle or by targeting distant organs. A novel peptidic myokine named 'irisin' has been recently identified. It has been noted that circulating irisin levels are lower in type 2 diabete...

Interleukin (IL)-6 is a cytokine with pleiotropic functions in different tissues and organs. Skeletal muscle produces and releases significant levels of IL-6 after prolonged exercise and is therefore considered as a myokine. Muscle is also an important target of the cytokine. IL-6 signaling has been associated with stimulation of hypertrophic muscle growth and myogenesis through regulation of t...

The authors hypothesize that thrombosis causes both the complications of atherosclerosis as well as the underlying lesion, the atherosclerotic plaque, which develops from the organization of mural thrombi. These form in areas of slow blood flow, which develop because of flow separation created by changing vascular geometry and elevated blood viscosity. Many phenomena typically ascribed to infla...

Sarcopenia, or skeletal muscle atrophy, is a debilitating comorbidity of many physiological and pathophysiological processes, including normal aging. There are no approved therapies for sarcopenia, but the antihypertrophic myokine myostatin is a potential therapeutic target. Here, we show that treatment of young and old mice with an anti-myostatin antibody (ATA 842) for 4 wk increased muscle ma...