Review Articles in 2020

This Review summarizes clinical practice for differentiated thyroid cancer, highlighting advances in therapy, including surgery and the use of radioactive iodine, as well as improved diagnostic tools and prognostic classifications. Different management strategies for patients with low-risk, intermediate-risk and high-risk differentiated thyroid cancer are discussed.

This Review examines the evidence that β-cells are active participants in the dialogue with the immune system during the development of type 1 diabetes mellitus. The authors suggest that therapies targeting β-cell health, vitality and function might prove essential, in combination with immunotherapy, to change the course of events leading to β-cell destruction.

Exposure to environmental pollutants such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) during critical periods of development can have long-term reproductive consequences. This Review discusses the cellular and molecular consequences of perinatal exposure EDCs with a focus on the neuroendocrine control of reproduction.

The bioactive peptides galanin, spexin and kisspeptin have a common ancestral origin. This Review summarizes the available evidence on the role of these peptides in the regulation of metabolism, pancreatic β-cell function, energy homeostasis, mood and behaviour.

This Review summarizes current knowledge on non-classic and less common causes of hypopituitarism, such as traumatic brain injury, genetic causes, use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, autoimmune diseases and inflammatory diseases. Furthermore, emerging evidence that posterior pituitary damage can affect oxytocin secretion is highlighted.

The pathophysiology of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) and diabetes mellitus are interlinked, and diabetes mellitus is associated with severe COVID-19 outcomes. This Review highlights new advances in diabetes mellitus and COVID-19, considering disease mechanisms and clinical management of patients with diabetes mellitus in the ongoing pandemic.

This Review provides insight into sexual dimorphism in adipose tissue distribution and substrate metabolism in adipose tissue, skeletal muscle and liver, as well as the underlying mechanisms. The effects of these sex differences on cardiometabolic health are outlined and the potential for developing sex-specific prevention and treatment strategies is discussed.

Anabolic agents represent a novel approach to improving bone quality in people with osteoporosis. This Review discusses anabolic agents in relation to other therapeutic options for osteoporosis to help guide their clinical application in the future.

This Review highlights the landmark T1DM and T2DM trials that inform the current guidelines for HbA_1c targets, which remain contentious. In addition, the Review discusses individualized HbA_1c targets, examines the limitations of HbA_1c and considers alternatives for monitoring glycaemic control.

Obesity activates stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs), such as the p38 and JNK stress kinases, in several tissues, including adipose, liver, skeletal muscle, immune organs and the central nervous system. This Review discusses the role of SAPKs in metabolic control and highlights important discoveries in the field.

This Review summarizes the adaptations to lipid metabolism that occur in skeletal muscle in response to either a high-fat diet or exercise training. In addition, obesity-associated impairments in fatty acid oxidation capacity and the importance of exercise for overcoming lipid metabolic inflexibility in obesity are discussed.

Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors are now widely used in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This Review discusses the use of the five main dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors for this purpose, highlighting their benefits and risks.

Sodium–glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) are used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. This Review provides an in-depth overview of the role of SGLT2is as glucose-lowering agents and as cardiovascular and renal protective agents.

During the past 5 years, a number of notable research advances have been reported for neuroendocrine cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. This Review provides an up-to-date summary of the research advances that have improved the clinical management of these cancers.

With immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) technologies increasingly being used in cancer immunotherapy, early data suggest that ICB therapies could be effective in thyroid cancer. This Review discusses our current knowledge of the immune response in thyroid cancers, the latest and ongoing immune-based approaches and the future of immunotherapies in thyroid cancer.

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) confers considerable pharmacological benefits on a cluster of obesity-related metabolic complications when administered to preclinical models. This Review discusses FGF21 analogues and mimetics and highlights their efficacy in preclinical models and clinical trials. The challenges in developing FGF21-based therapeutics are also considered.

This Review outlines the latest understanding of the pathogenesis of primary aldosteronism. Current treatment options are also discussed, including the potential for targeted therapies.

This Review highlights the evidence from clinical trials that diet-induced weight loss interventions can be used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. The composition of the diet and the importance of physical exercise programmes are discussed. Lifestyle interventions for prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus are also considered.

This Review highlights the beneficial adaptive responses to exercise in skeletal muscle and other tissues as well as their molecular mechanisms. In addition, the possibility of exercise-like therapeutic interventions is discussed, providing relevant examples that have used this approach.

This Review discusses the ways in which adult reproductive function can be shaped by childhood events and examines the evidence for the epigenetic regulation of key regulatory genes that govern the central control of reproduction.