Endocrine Abstracts

Models of estrogen insufficiency have revealed new and unexpected roles for estrogens in both males and females. These models include knockouts of aromatase in mice (the ArKO mouse) as well as of the estrogen receptors (ERKO mice). There are also a number of individuals with natural mutations in the aromatase gene, as well as one man with a mutation in the ERa receptor. Some of these roles of estrogens apply equally to males and females and do not relate to reproduction, for e...

In adipose tissue, estrogens are synthesized in the mesenchymal preadipocyte cells. This arises because aromatase, the enzyme responsible for estrogen biosynthesis is located in these cells as distinct from differentiated adipocytes. Regulation of aromatase expression in these cells is primarily due to a distal promoter, promoter I.4. Differentation of preadipocytes to the lipid-laden phenotype results in loss of aromatase transcripts coincident with increased PPARgamma expres...

Evan Simpson, Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, Victoria, Australia AbstractProfessor Simpson is generally recognised as a world leader in the area of oestrogen biosynthesis. His lab was the first to clone the cDNA and subsequently the human gene encoding aromatase, the enzyme responsible for oestrogen biosynthesis. They were the first to show that tissue-specific regulation of this gene is media...

E R Simpson, Prince Henry's Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. AbstractDr Evan Simpson is a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has had a long interest in the basic biology of estrogen biosynthesis, especially its relationship to breast cancer.His group was the first to clone and characterize the aromatase gene and to show the unique use of tissue-specific promoters to regulate tissue-specif...

Maternal undernutrition has been demonstrated to impact upon the development of a number of organ systems, including the kidney and pancreas. Offspring exposed to a maternal dietary protein restriction during gestation exhibit livers with fewer, larger lobules, suggestive of a similar developmental defect. It has been previously suggested that developmental changes, at least in the kidney, might be mediated by a change in the expression of the transcription factor Prox1. Here,...

Breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in Australian women. Up to 70% of post-menopausal tumours are estrogen-receptor positive (ER+), dependent on estrogen for continued growth and proliferative advantage. Adjuvant anti-estrogen therapies are considered the cornerstone approach to the treatment of such tumours, and research is ongoing to maximize its effectiveness. The major source of estrogens for ER+ breast cancers is local conversion of androgen pr...

Reactive Hypoglycaemia (RH) is a controversial condition that has been popularised in the media and lay literature. A recent survey of randomly selected women in Nottinghamshire revealed that 37.8% experience symptoms that they attribute to a 'low blood sugar', with over 18% experiencing symptoms more than once a week (1). The aim of this study was to investigate whether a non-patient group who report symptoms synonymous with RH have concomitant hypoglycaemia.<p...

Estrogen excess is a major contributing factor to the development and progression of post-menopausal Estrogen Receptor positive (ER+) breast cancers. Increased activity of aromatase, the enzyme that converts androgens to estrogens, and upregulation of its encoding gene CYP19A1 is often observed in breast adipose fibroblasts (BAFs) surrounding ER+ tumours. Understanding the process by which CYP19A1 is regulated between normal and diseased breast stroma may help to improve outco...