Adipogenesis is a process that differentiates new adipocytes from precursor cells and is tightly regulated by several factors, including many transcription factors and various post-translational modifications. Recently, new roles of adipogenesis have been suggested in various diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms and functional modulation of these adipogenic genes remain poorly understood. This review summarizes the regulatory factors and modulators of adipogenesis and discusses future research directions to identify novel mechanisms regulating adipogenesis and the effects of adipogenic regulators in pathological conditions. The master adipogenic transcriptional factors PPARγ and C/EBPα were identified along with other crucial regulatory factors such as SREBP, Kroxs, STAT5, Wnt, FOXO1, SWI/SNF, KLFs, and PARPs. These transcriptional factors regulate adipogenesis through specific mechanisms, depending on the adipogenic stage. However, further studies related to the in vivo role of newly discovered adipogenic regulators and their function in various diseases are needed to develop new potent therapeutic strategies for metabolic diseases and cancer.

Background and Objectives: The fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. is widely used medicinally to treat coughs, asthma, exhaustion, eczema, and pruritus in Northeast Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Japan. This study was designed to investigate the effects of S. chinensis on dermatitis in mice with calcipotriol (MC-903)-induced atopic dermatitis (AD), and its effects on skin barrier dysfunction was also investigated. Materials and Methods: The inhibitory effects of an ethanolic extract of S. chinensis (EESC) on skin lesions, water content, water-holding capacity (WHC), histopathological abnormalities, and inflammatory cytokine and chemokine levels were evaluated in mice with AD induced by MC903. Results: Topical EESC ameliorated skin lesions, reduced skin water content, and increased MC903-induced WHC. EESC also prevented MC-903-induced histopathological abnormalities such as epidermal disruption, hyperkeratosis, spongiotic changes, and immune cell infiltration in inflamed tissue. Moreover, topical EESC reduced MC-903-induced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP). Furthermore, unlike dexamethasone, EESC did not reduce the spleen/body weight ratio. Conclusions: These results suggest that S. chinensis can be used as an alternative to external corticosteroids and that its anti-inflammatory and skin barrier dysfunction-restoring effects are related to the downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, such as TNF-α, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, and TSLP.

The root bark of Dictamus dasycarpus Turcz. has been traditionally used for the topical treatment of skin disorders like pruritus. This study was designed to investigate the inflammatory and skin barrier protective effects of D. dasycarpus in mice with calcipotriol (MC903)-induced atopic dermatitis (AD). Topical skin lesions on male Balb/c mice (8 weeks old) were treated topically with an ethanolic extract of D. dasycarpus (EEDD), and skin water content, water holding capacity (WHC), histopathological abnormalities, and inflammatory cytokine and chemokine levels were investigated. Topical application of EEDD effectively alleviated skin lesion severity, improved skin water content and WHC, and ameliorated histopathological abnormalities, including hyperkeratosis, blood vessel numbers near the epidermis, spongiotic changes, and immune cell infiltration in skin tissues. EEDD also suppressed inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-8, and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1. In RAW264.7 cells, EEDD reduced nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB) expression and suppressed the phosphorylations of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38. These results suggest that the root bark of D. dasycarpus has therapeutic potential due to its anti-dermatitis and skin barrier protective effects in AD and that it could be used as an ingredient in skincare products.

Cachexia is a devastating fat tissue and muscle wasting syndrome associated with every major chronic illness, including cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease, AIDS, and heart failure. Despite two decades of intense research, cachexia remains under-recognized by oncologists. While numerous drug candidates have been proposed for cachexia treatment, none have achieved clinical success. Only a few drugs are approved by the FDA for cachexia therapy, but a very low success rate is observed among patients. Currently, the identification of drugs from herbal medicines is a frontier research area for many diseases. In this milieu, network pharmacology, transcriptomics, cheminformatics, and molecular docking approaches were used to identify potential bioactive compounds from herbal medicines for the treatment of cancer-related cachexia. The network pharmacology approach is used to select the 32 unique genes from 238 genes involved in cachexia-related pathways, which are targeted by 34 phytocompounds identified from 12 different herbal medicines used for the treatment of muscle wasting in many countries. Gene expression profiling and functional enrichment analysis are applied to decipher the role of unique genes in cancer-associated cachexia pathways. In addition, the pharmacological properties and molecular interactions of the phytocompounds were analyzed to find the target compounds for cachexia therapy. Altogether, combined omics and network pharmacology approaches were used in the current study to untangle the complex prognostic genes involved in cachexia and phytocompounds with anti-cachectic efficacy. However, further functional and experimental validations are required to confirm the efficacy of these phytocompounds as commercial drug candidates for cancer-associated cachexia.

Late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) is an age-related disease in men characterized by decreased testosterone levels with symptoms such as decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, and depression. Thymus quinquecostatus Celakovski (TQC) is a plant used as a volatile oil in traditional medicine, and its bioactive compounds have anti-inflammatory potential. Based on this knowledge, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of TQC extract (TE) on LOH in TM3 Leydig cells and in an in vivo aging mouse model. The aqueous extract of T. quinquecostatus Celakovski (12.5, 25, and 50 µg/mL concentrations) was used to measure parameters such as cell viability, testosterone level, body weight, and gene expression, via in vivo studies. Interestingly, TE increased testosterone levels in TM3 cells in a dose-dependent manner without affecting cell viability. Furthermore, TE significantly increased the expression of genes involved in the cytochrome P450 family (Cyp11a1, Cyp17a1, Cyp19a1, and Srd5a2), which regulate testosterone biosynthesis. In aging mouse models, TE increased testosterone levels without affecting body weight and testicular tissue weight tissue of an aging animal group. In addition, the high-dose TE-treated group (50 mg/kg) showed significantly increased expression of the cytochrome p450 enzymes, similar to the in vitro results. Furthermore, HPLC-MS analysis confirmed the presence of caffeic acid and rosmarinic acid as bioactive compounds in TE. Thus, the results obtained in the present study confirmed that TQC and its bioactive compounds can be used for LOH treatment to enhance testosterone production.