Endocrine Abstracts

A 60-year-old Caucasian male was referred to our Endocrine unit with symptoms suggestive of adrenal failure (malaise and fatigue).A Synachten test confirmed the diagnosis (baseline cortisol <5 nmol/l, post Synachten 74 nmol/l) and indicated secondary adrenal failure (baseline ACTH undetectable). Further hormonal tests showed secondary hypothyroidism (TSH 0.43 mU/ml, FT4 7.1 pmol/l) and hypogonadism (testosterone <0.7 nmol/l, LH 0.6 U/l). Prolacti...

Prolactin (PRL) exerts pleiotropic physiological effects in various cells and tissues, and is mainly considered as a regulator of reproduction and cell growth. Null mutation of the PRL receptor (R) gene leads to female sterility due to a complete failure of embryo implantation. Pre-implantatory egg development, implantation and decidualization in the mouse appear to be dependent on ovarian rather than uterine PRLR expression, since progesterone replacement permits the rescue o...

Introduction:Hepatic IGF-I is generally believed to be regulated by pituitary-derived GH. However recent studies have emphasized the importance of paracrine/autocrine IGF-I in normal growth and development, as well as some malignancies. However, it remains unclear how locally produced IGF-I is regulated. The aim of this project was to investigate IGF-I expression in different tissues from the growth hormone receptor knock-out (GHR-KO) mouse.<p class=...

A 21-year-old man presented with tonic–clonic seizures and two-week history of nocturnal headaches, sweatiness, hot flushes and abdominal pain. Blood pressure was 220/110 mmHg and pulse 120–160 bpm. A GTN infusion was commenced and the blood pressure improved to 150/90 mmHg. Examination revealed a large, hard mass in the left hypochondrium. There was no palpable lymphadenopathy and no papilloedema. A 2 cm hard, irregular mass was present on the left testis. CT showed...

Introduction: The GH/IGF-I axis is implicated in colorectal cancer development. We have previously shown regional variations of the GH/IGF-I axis, and other tumour associated genes between the rectum (RS) and caecum (C). Whether variations in the GH/IGF-I axis align with differing expression patterns is unknown.Aim: To determine the association between colonic expression of the GH/IGF-I axis and that of tumour associated genes by region.<p class="abs...

Background. The GH/IGF-I axis has been implicated in the pathogenesis of colon and breast cancer. We have recently demonstrated that the local expression of its components correlates with that of tumour-associated genes and angiogenesis. The two predominant isomers of GH in humans are 22kDa and 20kDa isomers. A recent study reported that the two isomers exert opposing effects on breast cancer cells: 22kDa GH promotes proliferation whereas 20kDa GH inhibits proliferation. The l...

Urocortins are the endogenous ligands for the corticotropin-releasing factor receptor type-2 which is highly expressed in skeletal muscle where it regulates glucose metabolism and muscle mass. Transgenic mice overexpressing Urocortin-3 (UCN3+) show accelerated peripheral glucose disposal and increased skeletal muscle mass with myocyte hypertrophy associated with decreased energy efficiency and improved glucose tolerance. We aimed to determine whether this phenotype would confe...

BackgroundIn addition to inhibiting pituitary GH secretion, somatostatin (SS) and its analogues have been shown to exert anti-proliferative effects on a variety of different cell types. The presence of receptors for SS have been demonstrated in a number of tissues but quantification of mRNA expression of the 5 subtypes of SSTR in the colon is unknown.MethodsTotal RNA was extracted from 9 paired samples of adj...

Background: Vitamin D prevents proliferation, promotes differentiation and induces apoptosis of colonic cells. A reduced dietary intake is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Recently, we have shown that 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1-alpha hydroxylase (1aOHase) mRNA, which converts vitamin D to its active metabolite, is upregulated in CRC. However, this was based on small number of samples and data on vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in CRC are inconsisten...

Background: Sporadic colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is more common on the left side of the colon. Acromegaly confers an increased risk of developing CRC but with an increase of right sided disease. IGFBP-3 both regulates tissue exposure to IGF-I and also exerts cellular IGF-l independent pro-apoptotic effects. Whether variation in regional IGFBP-3 expression in the colon may explain the observed pattern of disease in both normal and acromegalic patients is unknown.Aim: 1) To c...