Endocrine Abstracts

Diabetic wounds represent a medical and economical burden with a high need to develop more efficient therapies.Estrogens have a positive effect on cutaneous wound healing. Their decreased levels could count for impaired wound healing in elderly. The biological estrogen’s effects are mediated by two nuclear receptors subtypes (ERα and ERβ) and they were differently implied for the wound healing benefic processes. However, the estrogen effec...

Aim: We have proposed to study the modulation of the Notch pathway in diabetes having in mind the essential role played by the Notch system in the regulation of cell differentiation and angiogenesis.Methods: The effect of hyperglycemia on Notch system was studied in vitro and in vivo using western blot, reporter gene assay or evaluation of target genes (qRT-PCR). The functional consequences of the Notch system modulation were studied by the...

IntroductionInsulin-like growth factors-I (IGF-I) and -II (IGF-II) are important in regulation of metabolism and growth. We previously reported in normal weight normoglycaemic individuals that low circulating IGF-II predicts future weight gain. We subsequently investigated whether such relationships persisted in circumstances of abnormal glucose tolerance.MethodIn 224 type 2 diabetes subjects we assessed the ...

Neoangiogenesis is essential for tumor development. Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), a transcriptional factor composed of two subunits (α and β) plays a key role in this process, activating proangiogenic factors, such as VEGF. The HIF α subunits are critically regulated by oxygen but also modulated by growth factors. Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) is a highly vascular tumor which releases large amounts of VEGF and for which we have recently described an essential role for I...