Chrousos – Stress Research
George P. Chrousos is professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology Emeritus and former chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the Athens University Medical School.
Earlier he was senior investigator, director of the Pediatric Endocrinology Section and Training Program, and chief of the Pediatric and Reproductive Endocrinology Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
According to the ISI, he is the highest cited clinical pediatrician and endocrinologist in the world. According to Google Scholar Citations he is in the list of 100 most cited scientists in the world.
Dr. Chrousos, an endocrinologist and researcher, is devoted to the integrative approach and thinking in medicine, and has performed seminal work in the stress research field mostly related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a major branch of the stress system. His work has led to improved understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology of the stress response at the neuroendocrine, cellular and molecular levels.
He described the syndrome of glucocorticoid resistance that carries his name (Chrousos syndrome) as a disease of the glucocorticoid receptor and subsequently reported the majority of the kindred with this disorder in the world. He is recognized worldwide for his highly original work on the glucocorticoid signaling system, diseases of the HPA axis, such as Cushing’s syndrome, Addison’s disease, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, the physiology of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), the development of new CRH receptor antagonists, the hypersecretion of CRH in melancholic depression, anorexia nervosa and other stress-related disorders, and for elucidating the differential diagnosis of depression-related Pseudocushing and Cushing Syndrome.
Chrousos has contributed immensely to the biomedical literature and his work has provided new insights into a spectrum of clinical conditions and disorders that transcend the limits of classical endocrinology, such as reproduction and pregnancy, inflammation, stress-immune interactions, surgical stress, sleep, and septic shock, as well as chronic complex disorders such as depression, eating disorders, asthma, metabolic syndrome and autoimmune-inflammatory diseases.
Dr. Chrousos has a record of over 16 full publications in the New England Journal of Medicine, with his highly cited review on ‘The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Immune-Mediated Inflammation’. In 1997, Dr. Chrousos received the Hans Selye Award from the Hans Selye Foundation for outstanding contributions to stress research, and was recently elected as a Member, Institute of Medicine, The National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. and the Academia Europea, London, UK.
In the last 30 years, Dr. Chrousos has been at the forefront of stress research, and his work has been a valuable tool for promoting the significance and clinical implications of this interdisciplinary research field. In his review entitled ‘Stress and disorders of the stress system’ he provides a contemporary integrative view about the stress concept and the role of stress in common human diseases.
According to this review, “optimal basal activity and responsiveness of the stress system is essential for a sense of well-being, successful performance of tasks, and appropriate social interactions. By contrast, excessive or inadequate basal activity and responsiveness of this system might impair development, growth and body composition, and lead to a host of behavioral and somatic pathological conditions.”
Key Points
- Stress occurs when homeostasis is threatened or perceived to be so
- The stress response is mediated by the stress system, which is located in both the central nervous system and peripheral organs
- The main central effectors of the stress system are highly interconnected, and include hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone and brainstem-derived norepinephrine
- Malfunction of the stress system is associated with behavioral and somatic disorders
- Stress is a major contributor to psychosocial and physical pathological conditions in humans
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