Hormonal control of adipogenesis

The concept that hormonal substances can alter the expression of entire developmental programs is in itself not particularly new. The ability to define conditions under which a specific hormone can precociously activate the differentiation of a well-defined population of cells and under which another hormone can both block and reverse such a developmental progression, however, provides a major step forward toward unraveling the biochemical events that define the transition from a committed precursor to a fully differentiated cell. Further analysis of the molecular events initiated by glucocorticoids and TNF should provide insights into the control of adipogenesis and may generate a foundation for understanding the mechanisms by which other cells enter a particular differentiative lineage. In a more applied sense, such knowledge may also provide a rational approach to controlling metabolic disease syndromes related to adipogenesis gone awry such as obesity-associated diabetes and cachexia.