Stress-Response Pathways in Obesity and Metabolic Diseases

Dear Colleagues, 

The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. The World Health Organization estimate that, in 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight or obese. Several comorbidities are associated with obesity, such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The combination of basic and translational research is necessary to further elucidate the mechanisms that contribute to the emergence of the obese phenotype and its metabolic complications at the hypothalamus and at peripheral tissues (muscle, liver, adipose tissue, etc.).

In this Special Issue, we will focus on the stress response pathways occurring during obesity and their relationship with metabolic fluctuations at the cellular, tissue and organismal level. The stressors that are associated with obesity are related but not limited to: excessive calorie intake (nutritional stress); increases in reactive oxygen and electrophilic species (oxidative and electrophilic stress); and the local availability of oxygen, nutrients and metabolites at the tissue/cellular level. Hence, the stress response is involved in multiple processes, such as the antioxidant–cytoprotective response, the integrated stress response, and metabolic signaling adaptations, opening up new possibilities for its involvement with insulin resistance and other concomitant comorbidities of obesity.

This Special Issue is led by Dr. Dionysios Chartoumpekis and supported by our GE's assistant editors, Dr. Anthony Bougas <Tony.Bougas@ed.ac.uk> (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Dr. Aristea Psilopanagioti <aristeap@upatras.gr> (University of Patras, Greece). Having formed a multidisciplinary editorial team, we welcome basic and translational research and review articles that describe novel findings on pathways affected by the stress response during obesity or by treatments such as GLP-1 agonists or bariatric surgery.

Descriptive or mechanistic studies with novel findings related to model organisms or humans, open-ended research utilizing high-throughput screen methods (metabolomics, proteomics, RNA-seq, etc.) as well as translational studies are welcome. Last but not least, studies on pharmacological interventions with naturally occurring or synthetic compounds that can modulate stress response pathways and affect the outcomes of obesity are also welcome.

We look forward to this Special Issue becoming a multidisciplinary forum that will highlight research on the expanding field of stress response signaling in obesity.

Dr. Dionysios Chartoumpekis
Guest Editor

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