Endocrine Abstracts

Recent reports have revealed that leptin’s effects are not restricted to central control of body weight, demonstrating instead that leptin is a pleiotropic hormone with a wide variety of different biological actions. Leptin exhibits undesirable effects in autoimmune diseases, in atherosclerosis, and possibly in several types of cancer, and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease in obese people. Therefore, preparation of reagents capable of abolishing leptin’s a...

Background and aims: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease, characterized by T-cell mediated destruction of the pancreatic insulin-producing beta-cells. Neutrophils, cells of the innate immune system, have been shown to infiltrate the pancreas and undergo neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation (NETosis). However, little is known about the involvement of neutrophils and specifically the role of NETosis in the pathophysiology of the disease. Our aim was to...