There is a growing recognition that both the gut microbiome and the immune system are
involved in a number of psychiatric illnesses, including eating disorders. This should come …

The dysfunction of melanocortin signaling has been associated with obesity, given the
important role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, food intake, satiety and body weight …

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a classical member of the IL-1 superfamily of cytokines. As IL-1β, IL-
18 precursor is processed by inflammasome/caspase-1 into a mature and biologically active …

Eating disorders are evolutionarily novel conditions. They lead to some of the highest
mortality rates of all psychiatric disorders. Several evolutionary hypotheses have been …

The peripheral peptide hormone ghrelin is a powerful stimulator of food intake, which leads
to body weight gain and adiposity in both rodents and humans. The hormone, thus …

Eating disorders (EDs) are characterized by severe disturbances in eating behaviors and
can sometimes be fatal. Eating disorders are also associated with distressing thoughts and …

Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most frequent eating disorder, for which current
pharmacotherapies show poor response rates and safety concerns, thus highlighting the …

The dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) has a predominant expression in the prefrontal cortex
(PFC), brain area strictly involved in the modulation of reward processes related to both food …

Alterations of the immune system are known in eating disorders (EDs), however the
importance of cytokine balance in this context has not been clarified. We compared …

Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) is a 17-residue neuropeptide that binds the nociceptin
opioid-like receptor (NOP). N/OFQ exhibits nucleotidic and aminoacidics sequence …