Reviews & Analysis

Studies published in 2015 have continued to unravel the genomic landscape of thyroid cancer, particularly of its less common forms (such as medullary and anaplastic carcinomas) and of familial forms of thyroid cancer. As a result, new diagnostic and therapeutic markers have been identified and validated for clinical use.

In 2015, four studies demonstrated that hepatic glucose metabolism is altered by targeting the farnesoid X-activated receptor in the gut, the insulin receptor in extrahepatic tissues such as the brain and an S-nitrosylation–endoplasmic reticulum-stress-dependent pathway in the liver. Targeting nutrient-dependent and hormone-dependent signalling pathways in these organs could help regulate hepatic glucose production in patients with diabetes mellitus and obesity.

Endocrine disruptors are critical environmental exposures that influence health and can promote epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease and abnormal physiology. Advances in 2015 included analyses of the effects of endocrine disruptors on human disease, further examples of endocrine disruptors promoting transgenerational behavioural effects, insights into effects of endocrine disruptors on epigenetic programming of primordial germ cells and the finding that endocrine disruptors can transgenerationally promote genetic mutations.