Endocrine Abstracts

Somatostatin (SRIH) inhibits cell proliferation by interacting with five distinct SRIH receptor subtypes (SSTR) by several pathways in many tissues. We previously demonstrated that SRIH, by activating SHP-1, inhibits cell proliferation of the human Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) cell line, TT, which expresses all SSTR. However, the effects of SRIH on cell cycle proteins have not been investigated, so far. We therefore investigated the effects of SRIH and of a selective SSTR...

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a malignant tumour deriving from parafollicular C cells, with a highly chemoresistant phenotype. Failure of medical therapy has been ascribed, at least in part, to multi drug resistance (MDR1) gene over-expression. MDR1 encodes for a transmembrane glycoprotein, P-gp, which hampers intracellular accumulation of cytotoxic drugs. It has been demonstrated that P-gp expression and function depend on cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2) expression, which is...