[Receptor dysfunction as a pathogenetic principle in hormone resistance and metabolic diseases]

The characterisation of receptor sites of hormones to various tissues in vivo and in vitro have introduced new insights for the evaluation of pathogenic mechanisms involved in endocrine and metabolic human diseases. Disorders at the receptor level are characterized by changes in the number of receptor sites, the affinity of the hormone to its specific receptors or by generation of anti-receptor antibodies, which impair hormone binding procedures or post-receptor metabolism. Altered receptor physiology may be of an important value as well for diagnosis and treatment of endocrine, metabolic and neoplastic diseases as for the understanding of their pathogenetic mechanisms.