Leptin

The discovery of leptin by Friedman and his colleagues in 1994 was a seminal discovery in the study of metabolism, providing a new tool to study energy expenditure and appetite regulation. Early studies actively investigated many aspects of metabolism, obesity, and diabetes but it was soon evident that leptin was much more than a metabolic hormone. Today leptin, with almost 11,000 reports in the world's literature, is recognized to be important in many areas of physiology with strong suggestions for involvement in clinical conditions as well. Leptin, of course, remains of great interest in obesity and diabetes but other, previously unimagined, areas are now in the realm of leptin physiology. Perhaps leptin and its involvement in many areas of reproductive physiology may be of greatest interest outside of obesity, but other physiological arenas are becoming increasingly involved in the broader understanding of leptin and its pleiotropic functions. These areas include cardiovascular disease, bone physiology, immune regulation, and even cancer and genetics. Clinical trials have suggested other areas of leptin pharmaceutical potential beyond the original promise of obesity management. These topics and others, for the first time, have been collected in one volume as the first comprehensive review of leptin and its many actions. This area will continue to increase and is now compounded by new endocrine factors that have been elucidated in the wake of leptin's explosion onto the physiological scene.

The discovery of leptin little more than a decade ago, as a hormone produced in white adipose tissue with an important role in satiety and energy expenditure, was a seminal event in our understanding of adiposity. This initial advance in the new endocrinology of obesity was soon followed by the realization that leptin was not only produced in adipose tissue, but in many different tissues of the body, and that receptors were similarly distributed. Additionally, the early recognition of infertility that was associated with leptin deficiency prompted research that identified roles for the polypeptide in virtually every area of reproductive biology.

A general interest in leptin has rapidly produced inroads into unexpected areas of physiology that may eventually elucidate the varied relationships of adiposity to human health and disease. These developments have been paralleled by a rigorous investigation as a product of pharmaceutical interest. The broad range of physiology and the clinical situations in which leptin is now implicated is reviewed for the first time in the present volume.

 

***Series Editor's comments****

This volume integrates cutting edge basic and clinical information encompassing the expression of leptin and leptin receptors, pathophysiology and clinical role of leptin- a new neuroendocrine hormone with pleiotropic roles in appetite regulation, metabolic, inflammatory, neoplastic, cardiovascular and reproductive functions.

This single volume encyclopedic coverage is indispensable to students, postdoctoral trainees, fellows, scientists and practitioners interested in neuroendocrine peptide control of multiple cellular functions.

Shlomo Melmed, M.D.
Series Editor
Endocrine Updates