Endocrine Abstracts

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an asbestos-related tumour which is highly resistant to standard treatments, thus continuing to present a therapeutically challenge. Insulin-like growth factor system (IGFs), play an important role in the regulation of solid tumour cell growth. IGFBP-3, the most abundant circulating IGF binding protein, inhibits cell growth by both IGF-I dependent and independent pathways.The aim of our study was to evaluate the ef...

The objective of this study is to investigate the use of qRT-PCR as an early-stage bioassay to quantify biological activity. The action of VEGF165 on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was selected as a model since we have previously studied dose-dependence and time courses for several late-stage responses for this system (production of IL-6, IL-8 and tissue factor, cellular proliferation and survival). Assay of VEGF activity and inhibitors underpins a ...

IntroductionThe mechanism by which hypertrophy of skeletal muscle occurs in response to anabolic androgens is incompletely understood. This study used a cell culture model of human skeletal muscle-derived cells, with samples obtained from consenting subjects and local ethics committee approval. The objective was to determine changes in myogenicity upon exposure to exogenous androgen +/− IGF-1 and to see whether an additive effect would be observed....