Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are a new class of oral anti-diabetic medications that improve glycaemia by reducing the amount of glucose being absorbed in the kidneys. SGLT2 inhibitors have been proven to improve blood pressure, cardiovascular health and kidney disease. Despite their beneficial clinical effects, their exact mechanism of action is not fully explored. The aim of this project was to investigate the effect of SGLT2 ...

Background: Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal cortex and is essential for the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis. Cortisol activation is catalysed by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (11β-HSD1) and excess cortisol is associated with insulin resistance and hyperglycaemia. Previous studies from our group have shown that Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, a gastrointestinal procedure known to improve insulin sensitivity, causes cortisol inhibi...

Accumulating evidence suggests that the immunological landscape plays a key role in the progression of neuroendocrine liver metastases (LM-NENs), which is often characterised by immune cell infiltration. Anti-tumour functions of infiltrating lymphocytes are often silenced through hyper-expression of inhibitory checkpoint receptors (CRs) such as PD-1, but favourable outcomes with anti-PD-1 therapy have been low. Recently, functional soluble (cell-free) CRs beyond PD-1 have been...