Endocrine Abstracts

Monogenic diabetes is estimated to account for 1-2% of all diabetes cases diagnosed before the age of 45. It is caused by mutations in genes encoding for beta cell development, function and regulation. We present three cases of monogenic diabetes in pregnancy.Case 1: Age 30, Para 3, White ethnicity. This individual was screened for a GCK mutation at 18 weeks gestation (third pregnancy) on the basis of family history. She required metformin and insulin to...

The population of follicles within the mammalian ovary declines steadily with age. The majority of follicles in the ovary are at the primordial (resting) stage of development, each consisting of a small oocyte surrounded by a single layer of flattened granulosa cells (GCs). The rate at which follicles enter the growing phase, involving oocyte growth and GC shape change and proliferation, is a major determinant of the rate at which the reserve of primordial follicles is deplete...

Estetrol (E4) is a natural estrogen produced by the human fetal liver during pregnancy. E4 is the estrogenic component of a new combined oral contraceptive and is also in development for its use as menopausal hormone therapy. E4 displays a selective binding to human estrogen receptors (ER). In humans, after oral administration, E4 undergoes phase 2 metabolism leading to the formation of the two major metabolites E4-3-glucuronide and E4-16-glucuronide. The objectives of this st...

Objective: Premature ovarian failure (POF) is not an early menopause and intermittent ovarian function can be spontaneously observed in POF patients. We sought to characterize these patients and determine which factors were predictors of intermittent ovarian function.Patients and methods: Among 391 patients with idiopathic POF followed from 1997 in our department, 67 (17.1%) patients (Group 1) had POF fluctuating criteria: FSH <15 IU/l, resumed spont...

Evidence has accumulated about the involvement of the CRF system in the regulation of energy balance. The effects of CRF are mediated by two receptors: CRFR1 and CRFR2. The role of the CRFR1 in the regulation of energy balance is not well defined. To address this issue, adult male CRFR1 KO mice and WT littermates were given low fat (LFD) or high-fat (HFD) diets for 4 months. Under LFD no differences between genotypes were seen on body weight (BW) and caloric intake. KO mice ha...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and is one of the highest incidences and mortality tumours worldwide. Our group has previously shown that CRC favours oestradiol synthesis by increasing steroid sulfatase (STS) activity and altering 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (HSD17Bs) expression. However, what regulates STS activity and HSD17Bs expression and activity in CRC remains unknown. In breast and prostate cancer inflammatory mediators, such as TNF&#9...

Background/aims: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women, being characterized by ovarian hyperandrogenism attributed to intrinsic overproduction by theca cells (TCs). Although previous reports pointed a higher stability and transcription of CYP17mRNA (Wickenheisser JK et al. 2006)1, few have examined (and none has quantified) P450c17 protein expression in TCs from PCOS ovaries. Therefore, the aim of this study is to qua...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterised by hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance. It is thought that androgen excess contributes to the mechanism of insulin resistance. Granulosa cells in PCOS demonstrate impaired insulin-induced glucose uptake and lactate accumulation1. The aim of this study was to characterise insulin signalling (via the PI3-Kinase (PI3-K) pathway) and glucose metabolism in an immortalised mouse granulosa cell line (KK1)2, a...

Insulin resistance is common in women with PCOS. Insulin and IGF-1 affect glucose uptake and metabolism via insulin receptor substrate (IRS-1) and the phosphotidyl inositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway. Impaired glucose metabolism has been observed in granulosa-lutein cells from anovulatory (but not ovulatory) women with PCO (Rice et al. 2005). The aim of this study was to analyse IRS-1 protein expression in human preantral follicles in samples of normal and PCO. Immunohisto...

Preantral follicle development in polycystic ovaries (PCO) is characterised by an increased proportion of early growing follicles. We have previously shown that IGF-1 stimulates initiation of follicle growth in normal and PCO (Endocrine Abstracts 2004 7 P172). Here we have extended these studies, specifically to examine whether the ovulatory status of the patients from whom tissue is obtained influences the response to IGF-1. Small ovarian biopsies were obtained (with ethical ...