Endocrine Abstracts

It is widely accepted that, in addition to serving as a repository for energy reserves, adipose tissue is an active endocrine organ that secretes a variety of signalling molecules, the adipokines, which play important roles in the regulation of metabolism, energy balance, feeding behaviour, vascular homeostasis and immunity. In particular, leptin, resistin and adiponectin have been implicated in energy and glucose homeostasis. Additional neuroendocrine functions have also been...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among men population worldwide. This tumour pathology is commonly diagnosed through the determination of serum PSA levels. However, the diagnostic capability of PSA dramatically drops when considering patients with PSA levels lower than 10 ng/ml, the so-called “grey-zone”1. Therefore, additional non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers are urgently needed to substitute/complement PSA. In this se...

Craniopharyngiomas are rare benign epithelial tumors derived from remains of Rathke’s pouch. They are more prevalent in childhood, adolescence, and adults <50 years, and, commonly, are usually diagnosed after being associated with serious comorbidities when the development of the tumor is already advanced. To date, first-line therapy is usually surgery, but frequently the resection is not complete, causing high rates of recurrence. Therefore, the identification of ne...

BackgroundPatients with neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) might present with malnutrition due to the tumor itself and/or its treatment. Poor nutritional status and weight loss can lead to poor outcomes, including decreased quality of life, increased complication rates and mortality. Ghrelin is an orexigenic hormone, which is implicated in appetite regulation, body weight, inflammation and immune cell activation. Its gastric secretion mainly depends on the ...

IntroductionAlternative splicing allows the generation of multiple RNA isoforms from a single pre-RNA molecule, and thereby contributes to a multitude of physiological processes, but can also be involved in many diseases, including cancer. Indeed, disruption of alternative splicing has been linked to key cancer features, such as tumor growth, metastasis and hormone responsiveness and is increasingly regarded as a novel and transversal cancer hallmark. Th...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most diagnosed cancer type and the sixth cause of cancer death among men worldwide. Due to the usual slow course of the progression of this disease, there is a growing interest in finding chemopreventive therapeutics with a low risk of side effects. In line with this, recent studies have shown that hydroxytyrosol (HT), one of the main extra virgin olive oil phenolic compounds, exerts a protective role against different cancer types. Moreover...

IntroductionDysregulation of alternative splicing is emerging as a new hallmark of cancer. This dysregulation may originate from mutations and/or altered expression of specific components of the splicing machinery. Indeed, our group has shown that the expression profile of the splicing machinery is altered in several types of cancer, including endocrine-related cancers. However, to date, the status of alternative splicing and its putative dysregulation h...

Obesity is emerging as a prevalent cause of chronic liver damage, which can lead to the development of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), or even hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Increasing evidence suggests a profound dysregulation of the splicing machinery (spliceosome and splicing factors) in these pathologies; however, the role of PRPF8, a pivotal spliceosome element, has not been described in chronic liver pathologies. Th...