Professor Chrousos has been at the forefront of stress research for more than 40 years and is internationally recognized for his research on the cellular glucocorticoid signaling system, HPA axis diseases, and the physiological, pathophysiological, and molecular mechanisms of stress and stress-related disorders.
He began his research with the molecular elucidation, diagnosis and treatment of primary glucocorticoid resistance syndrome in humans and described the “pansteroid” resistance of non-human New World primates. He continued with extensive basic work on the glucocorticoid signaling system and its involvement in cellular function, physiology and pathophysiology. He continued by studying and analyzing the regulation of the basal hypothalamic neuropeptide CRH and its involvement in major functions of the body, such as the response to stress or immunological challenges, the regulation of behavior, emotion, appetite and sleep. He linked excessive or insufficient secretion of CRH to diseases. Professor Chrousos demonstrated that CRH is secreted peripherally (“immunological CRH”) and participates directly in the inflammatory response as a potent mast cell degranulator, mediating stress-induced conditions such as asthma and migraines. He demonstrated sexual dimorphism in CRH and the stress system response, with a female predominance, and developed a clinically useful CRH test used in the differential diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome and pseudo-Cushing’s states and adrenal insufficiency. He used this test as a research tool in the study of complex human disorders.
Professor Chrousos’ research program has focused on stress and glucocorticoid physiology. Adaptations to stressful changes in exogenous/endogenous situations and conditions represent perhaps the most central feature of life. Glucocorticoids, the final hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, are central to this process, given their essential role in behavioral and physical/energetic adaptations, acting on more elements of the genome than any other biological receptor, while also influencing the epigenome and regulating mitochondrial function. Professor Chrousos is internationally recognized for his research on the glucocorticoid signaling system of the cell, diseases of the HPA axis, and the physiological, pathophysiological, and molecular mechanisms of stress and stress-related disorders. Professor Chrousos described the glucocorticoid resistance syndrome that bears his name (Chrousos syndrome) as a disease of the glucocorticoid receptor and then reported the majority of relatives with this disorder in the world.
He described the basic pathophysiology of a series of human conditions characterized by high or low CRH secretion, such as, respectively, melancholic depression, anorexia nervosa, idiopathic insomnia and compulsive sports or atypical and seasonal depression, postpartum melancholia/depression and chronic fatigue syndromes and fibromyalgia. He extended this work to other common human conditions, such as obesity/metabolic syndrome, sleep disorders, autoimmune diseases and post-traumatic stress disorder. He synthesized seemingly disparate mechanisms and disorders into a logical heuristic model that has been accepted and cited by thousands of researchers.
Professor Chrousos has conducted biomedical research from the basic molecular/cellular level to the diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases and subsequently to public health. His work has opened new horizons in the understanding of a range of human complex disorders, including melancholic, atypical and postpartum depression, eating disorders, metabolic syndrome, psychosomatic and sleep disorders, and inflammatory autoimmune and allergic diseases. His contributions span a wide range of medical disciplines, including Pediatrics, Reproductive Medicine, Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Psychiatry and Psychology, Epidemiology, Rheumatology/Immunology, Allergy, Sleep Medicine, Psychosomatic Medicine, Surgery and Oncology.