Special Topics Revisited

Hormone and Metabolic Research publishes one to three additional issues per year where topics of special interest are highlighted in original articles and reviews. This concept has been highly esteemed by our readers who wish to have access to updates provided by experts in the field. The forum Special Topics has been introduced in 1996 with a special issue on leptin and its role on obesity [1]. In the meantime, the concept of adipose tissue as an endocrine organ has been expanded by the detection of a host of substances, such as resistin, adiponectin, Wnt, and others. It has also been shown that the adipose tissue interacts with other peripheral organs and the brain in an orchestrated way to regulate total energy homeostasis. This topic was again highlighted in a special issue in 2002 [2]. In the current article by Fischer-Posovszky and colleagues a focus will be set on recent advances, especially with visfatin and retinol-binding-protein-4 entering the field [3]. In the series of “Special Topics Revisited”, we intend to show that by experimental work in the field of endocrinology and metabolism, new hypotheses are formulated, dogmas have to be abandoned, and disease models have to be changed on the basis of new experimental and clinical evidence.

References

• 1 The Leptin Issue.  Horm Metab Res. 1996;  28 619-756
• 2 The Endocrinology of Adipose Tissue.  Horm Metab Res. 2002;  34 605-766
• 3 Fischer-Posovszky P, Wabitsch M, Hochberg Z. Endocrinology of adipose tissue - an update.  Horm Metab Res. 2007;  39 314-321

Correspondence