Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) causes autoimmune destruction of insulin producing b-cells, affecting approximately 8.4 million individuals worldwide. Autologous stem cell derived b cell (sc-b cell) transplantation is a promising treatment, however receipient immunological responses remain a challenge. This pilot study utilised mass cytometry (CyTOF) to assess immune responses in co-cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with autol...

Post-translational modifications of histones such as methylation, acetylation, and phoshorylation regulate chromatin structure and gene expression. However, phosphorylation of histone H3 at threonine 11 (H3T11ph) has not been linked to transcriptional regulation. Here we show that protein kinase C-related kinase 1 (PRK1) phosphorylates H3T11 upon ligand-dependent recruitment to androgen receptor (AR) target genes. PRK1 is pivotal to AR function since PRK1 knockdown by RNAi or ...

Background: Thyroid hormones increase both serum levels of cystatin C and renal glomerular filtration rate (reflected by lower serum creatinine); the latter is considered the main determinant of cystatin C levels. A potential explanation for this apparently discrepant finding is an increased production, rather than a decreased clearance, of cystatin C. To study whether 3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) increases the production of cystatin C in a w...

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (PNETs) may occur as part of the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) syndrome, or as a non-familial isolated endocrinopathy. Current medical treatments for PNETs are largely ineffective in preventing tumour progression, so there is a need for better therapies, which will develop from an improved understanding of the mechanisms driving PNET tumorigenesis. Cytokine-driven inflammation has been implicated in the development and progression...

Aims/hypothesis: Several data have shown the association between diabetes type 2 (DM2) and transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene polymorphisms, in several and different ethnical populations. Although the pathophysiology is not completely clear, it seems that beta and alpha cell functions are abnormal. Up to these days there is no clinical data showing association between TCF7L2 gene polymorphism allele rs7903146 T and beta cell insulin and C-peptide contents in DM2 patie...

Background: IGF-1 is a ubiquitous growth factor that has been shown to play an important role in breast tissue development and tumorigenesis. Previously we have shown that IGF-1 expression is lost in approximately 1/3 of breast carcinomas. It is unsure whether this indicates the existence of a subset of breast cancers that may behave differently clinically and on a molecular level. Aims: To assess and quantify the mRNA expression of (i) Cox-2 and c-myc, genes imp...

Introduction: Chronic hypercortisolemia during Cushing Syndrome (CS) determines significant changes in the plasticity and function of metabolic tissues like visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Persistence of alterations in VAT function after CS remission is under debate, as data of clinical studies is not consistent due to confounder factors and limited availability of VAT. Animal model of reversible CS presents long-term alterations on VAT after remission. We investigate VAT alter...

It has been reported that Ang II induces the growth of MCF-7 breast cancer cells (Muscella et al., J Endocrinol 173, 315-323, 2002). Here we have examined the signalling pathways evoked by Ang II in MCF-7. Ang II did not change the concentration of intracellular calcium but induced the cytosol-to-membrane translocation of atypical protein kinase C zeta (PKC-zeta). Ang II dose-dependently induced c-fos (mRNA and protein) and enhanced the phosphorylation state of extracellular s...

Background: PCO is more prevalent among SA than C and IR is central to its pathogenesis; whilst Type 2 diabetes (DM) is commoner in SA. We compared the phenotype and IR in South Asian and Caucasians with PCOS.Methods: Comparison of consecutive anovular PCOS; 47 SA and 36 Caucasians and their age and weight matched controls (11 SA and 22 Cs).Results: SA presented earlier (age 26 plus/minus 4 v 30.1 plus/minus 5, p = 0.005). BMI (24....

Interferon alpha (IFNα) and Ribavirin combination therapy effectively eradicates Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in up to 80% of patients. Transient thyroid dysfunction (TD) (>80% hypothyroidism) usually due to a destructive thyroiditis has been recognised to occur in up to 25% of patients treated in Italy, Japan and Australia. However, data are lacking in a UK cohort and no standardised protocol for testing of thyroid function testing exists. The aim of this study was to det...