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Association Of Glucocorticoid Receptor Polymorphisms With Metabolic Characteristics And Bariatric Surgery In Bariatric Patients, Sebastien Gingras

Honors Theses

Cortisol acts on target tissues through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). When in high concentration in the blood, it causes an obesity phenotype with hyperglycemia, hyperglyceridemia, hypertension and weight gain, known as Cushings’ Syndrome or Disease (CS/D). Hypersensitivity-causing single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the GR have been shown to lead to a similar phenotype. Because of the symptomatic resemblance between CS/D and Metabolic Syndrome (MS), we and others hypothesized that the MS may be a Cushingoid-like state with absence of hypercortisolemia, but with GR hypersensitivity. Additionally, the link between GR SNPs and the success of bariatric surgery as measured by the percent …