Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is involved in endothelial dysfunction in hypertension and diabetes. It may play a role in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy. Other various growth factors were found to be involved in the neovascularization in proliferative diabetic retinopathy including insulin like growth factor -1 (IGF-1) but most of the studies have measured only a single growth factor especially in the vitreous fluid, thus ignori...

Rescuing neurons from death and promoting axon regeneration through the delivery of individual neurotrophic factors (NTF) to the CNS has proved disappointing. We evaluated in vitro the potency of FGF2, NT-3, and BDNF given singly, or in combination, to trophically support retinal ganglion cells (RGC) in the presence of inhibitory CNS myelin, and demonstrated increased survival and neurite outgrowth greater than the sum of the effects of each NTF given alone. We observed...

PTHrP has been shown to be the primary factor responsible for humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy, and recently PTHrP has been shown to be an early-response gene that may be involved in cellular proliferation or differentiation. 1,25 DHCC and its analoge EB1089 have been reported to inhibits growth of cells derived from a variety of tumours in vitro and in vivo. We have investigated in this study the effect of different 1,25 DHCC and EB1089 doses (from 10&#8...

The anorexigenic leptin and orexigenic ghrelin, are peripheral signals that control appetite via the hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) system. Ghrelin exists in an inactive (des-acyl) and active (octanoylated) form which acts via the GHS-R1a. Whilst a great deal is understood about central interaction of these peptides their peripheral pathways remain uncertain. Adipose tissue (AT) produces several neuropeptides. Due to the importance of AT in the control of energy homeostasis...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5–10% of reproductive-aged women and is associated with hyperandrogenism and chronic anovulation. Leukocytes, together with granulosa cells, may contribute to the pathogenesis of PCOS via their ability to secrete an array of cytokines implicated in follicle growth.Aim: Using RT-PCR, we screened for the expression of a range of cytokines in ovarian biopsies obtained from PCOS patients and normal individuals to...

Introduction: The role of TNF-alpha in muscle wasting diseases if a topic of great interest. However, the role of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in some pathological diseases and in skeletal muscle is controversial. Physical exercise provides protection against several human diseases, e.g. cardiovascular disease, heart failure and claudicatio intermittens. This protection is associated with the muscle specific production of IL-6. In contrast to its protective role during exercise, eleva...

Objective: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an immunoregulative proinflammatory cytokine with pleiotropic functions. It was reported that plasma level of IL-6 in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients was higher than in healthy individuals. IL-6 is supposed to take part in pancreatic beta-cells destruction. So, we considered IL-6 gene to be a candidate one for T1DM. The aim of present study was to investigate the role of IL-6 gene promoter polymorphism in T1DM developme...