Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary development, in particular the differentiation of anterior pituitary endocrine cells, remains to be fully understood, and may have implications for adult pituitary plasticity and hyperplasia. We have used prolactin-reporter transgenic rats to characterise prolactin transcription during the appearance of newly formed lactotroph cells during fetal development.Transgenic rats with the firefly luciferase reporter gene inserted into exon 1b of a 160...

Prolactin (PRL) is a hormone mainly produced by the lactotroph cells of the anterior pituitary gland. Besides its pivotal role in reproduction, PRL has also been found to have immuno-modulatory properties. The pituitary is the main source of circulating PRL, however it is also expressed in humans at extra-pituitary sites1. In extra-pituitary tissues, PRL mRNA contains an extra exon (exon 1a), and expression is regulated by an alternative promoter upstream of the pit...

Background: Adult growth hormone deficient (AGHD) is associated with reduced bone turnover and reduced bone mineral density (BMD): factors improved by growth hormone replacement (GHR). Obesity is associated with reduced bone turnover but increased BMD. We investigated the impact of body mass index on parathyroid hormone (PTH), phospho-calcium metabolism and bone turnover in AGHD patients before and after GHR.Study design: Of 31 AGHD patients (15 obese pa...

3-iodothyronamine (T1AM) is a novel, endogenous rapid acting biogenic amine, which is a potent agonist of the G-protein coupled trace amine-associated receptor 1, TAAR1. It has been suggested that endogenous T1AM could be generated by enzymatic deiodonation and decarboxylation of T4. The presence of T1AM in rat brain and the distribution of the TAAR1 receptor in the hypothalamus suggest that T1AM may affect food intake and regulate e...

Nuclear Receptors control many developmental and physiological processes by regulating the expression of networks of genes. Their ability to activate or repress gene transcription depends on the recruitment of coactivators and corepressors that function as scaffolds for the binding of chromatin remodelling enzymes. RIP140 is a ligand dependant corepressor for most, if not all, nuclear receptors with key roles in energy homeostasis and reproduction.RIP140...

Agouti-related protein (AGRP) plays a key role in energy homeostasis with the carboxy-terminal domain acting as an endogenous antagonist of the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4-R). It has been suggested that the amino-terminal domain of AGRP binds to syndecan-3, allowing it to regulate local concentrations of AGRP at the MC4-R. This model assumes that AGRP is secreted as a full-length peptide. However, AGRP contains several consensus prohormone convertase cleavage sites: Lys52-Lys...

BACKGROUND: Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (AGHD) is associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD). PTH plays an important role in bone metabolism and reports have suggested target cell insensitivity to PTH as a contributor to the changes in bone turnover seen in AGHD. Although growth hormone replacement (GHR) increases BMD, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of GHR on 24-hour PTH profiles, phosphocalcium ...

Phaeochromocytoma in association with hypercortisolism is thought to be rare. However we have observed 4 cases in 3 years and question the rarity of this link. In each case there was a dominant adrenal mass (3.6-7.7cm) with contralateral adrenal hyperplasia. Three of the 4 tumours showed increased 123-I-mIBG uptake. Urinary catecholamines ranged from 872-22752nmol/24h (N < 600). Hypercortisolism was present in all 4 patients; sustained in 2 and cyclical in 2. Case 1 (JCEM ...

We present a case of a 62-year-old lady with a grade 3 well-differentiated metastatic gastric-neuroendocrine tumour complicated by symptoms of CS (weight-gain, bruising, proximal weakness) which developed over 4 weeks. She had progressive disease after exhausting all conventional anti-neoplastic therapeutic options. Screening tests revealed raised 24-h urinary free cortisol (3460 nmol/24h[<165]), post-overnight dexamethasone suppression serum cortisol (serF) 1200 nmol/l(&#...

Background: Phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) are highly heritable, with 30-40% due to a germline pathogenic variant. An additional 40% of tumours will harbour a somatic variant. Understanding the variant status of a tumour enables molecular classification. Liquid biopsy offers a novel approach to non-invasive diagnostics by harnessing the ability to detect small amounts of circulating-free DNA (cfDNA) and performing genomic sequencing. There are few ...