Understanding the regulatory mechanism paves the way to enhance the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory therapies and to develop strategies to counteract the negative effects of stressand age-related cortisol excess.
Cortisol, also commonly known as the stress hormone, belongs to the family of glucocorticoids. In addition to its physiological function, synthetic derivatives of cortisol are also used as anti-inflammatory drugs. In the cell, the hormone acts by binding to the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which then acts as a transcription factor to regulate the activity of certain target genes. In order to switch off the cortisol signal again, the cell breaks down the cortisol-bound GR over time. ...
