title: Therapeutic Potential of Targeting the Ghrelin Pathway.
abstract: Ghrelin was discovered in 1999 as the endogenous ligand of the growth-hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHSR1a). Since then, ghrelin has been found to exert a plethora of physiological effects that go far beyond its initial characterization as a growth hormone (GH) secretagogue. Among the numerous well-established effects of ghrelin are the stimulation of appetite and lipid accumulation, the modulation of immunity and inflammation, the stimulation of gastric motility, the improvement of cardiac performance, the modulation of stress, anxiety, taste sensation and reward-seeking behavior, as well as the regulation of glucose metabolism and thermogenesis. Due to a variety of beneficial effects on systems' metabolism, pharmacological targeting of the endogenous ghrelin system is widely considered a valuable approach to treat metabolic complications, such as chronic inflammation, gastroparesis or cancer-associated anorexia and cachexia. The aim of this review is to discuss and highlight the broad pharmacological potential of ghrelin pathway modulation for the treatment of anorexia, cachexia, sarcopenia, cardiopathy, neurodegenerative disorders, renal and pulmonary disease, gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, inflammatory disorders and metabolic syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity & Helmholtz Diabetes Center, Helmholtz Zentrum München German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), 85764 Neuherberg, Germany. gustav.collden@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Gustav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colldén
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity & Helmholtz Diabetes Center, Helmholtz Zentrum München German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), 85764 Neuherberg, Germany. matthias.tschoep@helmholtz-muenchen.de.|Division of Metabolic Diseases, Department of Medicine, Technische Universität München, 80333 Munich, Germany. matthias.tschoep@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Matthias H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Tschöp
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity & Helmholtz Diabetes Center, Helmholtz Zentrum München German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), 85764 Neuherberg, Germany. timo.mueller@helmholtz-muenchen.de.|Institute for Diabetes and Obesity (IDO), Business Campus Garching-Hochbrück, Parkring 13, 85748 Garching, Germany. timo.mueller@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Timo D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D002100:Cachexia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D018589:Gastroparesis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D054439:Ghrelin
keywords: anorexia; ghrelin; inflammation; pathology; therapy