Endocrine Abstracts

The active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D3) is a potent antiproliferative agent with putative applications in the treatment of common cancers. However, doses of 1,25D3 required to achieve tangible anticancer responses also stimulate unwanted calciotropic effects. Data suggest that this is due, in part, to acquired resistance to 1,25D3 in cancer cells, particularly in more aggressive tumours. To investigate this fu...

Introduction: Real-time elastography (RTE) is a noninvasive ultrasound method of estimation of tissue stiffness by measuring the degree of local tissue displacements after a small compression. Recent data has shown indicate on its ability to differentiate benign and malignant tumors. The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of RTE in the diagnosis of malignant and benign thyroid nodules.Material and methods: A total of 75 thyroid nodu...

In humans, glucocorticoids (GC) are implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity and insulin resistance. GCs are regulated at the prereceptor level by 11beta-HSDs. 11beta-HSD1 predominately displays oxo-reductase activity (cortisone/11-dehydrocorticosterone to cortisol/ corticosterone), requiring the cofactor NADPH. Recently, studies in humans have shown that the enzyme H6PDH, by generating NAPDH in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is crucial for oxo-reductase activity. This study ...