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Nutrition-hormone receptor-gene interactions: implications for development and disease
M J Dauncey1, P White, K A Burton
1Developmental Genetics Programme, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK. joy.dauncey@bbsrc.ac.uk
The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
|April 20, 2001
Summary
Nutrition significantly impacts development by influencing hormone receptors. Early life nutrition, particularly glucocorticoids and thyroid hormones, can program adult disease risk and metabolic functions.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Nutritional Science
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Nutrition profoundly influences gene expression and phenotypic outcomes, especially during development.
- Hormones and their receptors act as critical mediators between nutritional status and genetic pathways.
- Nuclear hormone receptors directly regulate gene transcription involved in development and disease.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore how nutrition impacts hormone synthesis, metabolism, and receptor function.
- To investigate the role of nuclear receptors, like glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone receptors, in mediating nutritional effects on development and disease programming.
- To understand how early life nutritional interventions influence long-term health outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on nutrition, hormones, and gene regulation.
- Analysis of studies examining the effects of glucocorticoids (GC) and thyroid hormones (TH) on gene transcription.
- Examination of how intrauterine growth restriction and postnatal undernutrition affect hormone receptor isoforms and gene expression.
Main Results:
- Early nutritional environments, mediated by GC receptors, can program adult disease susceptibility.
- Nutritional deficiencies alter TH-receptor isoforms in muscles, impacting genes for myosin, glucose transporters, and thermogenesis.
- Nutritional status influences nutrient utilization, insulin sensitivity, and cardiac function via nuclear receptor pathways.
Conclusions:
- Nutritional status is a key determinant of developmental trajectories and long-term health via hormone receptor modulation.
- Early life nutrition plays a critical role in 'programming' metabolic and physiological functions through epigenetic modifications.
- Interactions between various nuclear receptors (e.g., for retinoic acid, vitamin D) are crucial for nutritional interventions.
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