Endocrine Abstracts

ACTH is the product of proteolytic processing of its precursor, proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and, in turn, is subject to proteolytic degradation. Regulation of proteolysis is crucial to several intracellular processes, including protein activation and inactivation, and thus contributes to active peptide concentrations. The proteosome 26S/ubiquitin system (UPS) is the main, non-lisosomial intracellular proteolytic pathway and alterations to this system have been observed in both ...

Retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A, has recently yielded promising results in the treatment of Cushing’s disease (Pecori Giraldi et al. JCEM 2012). Its main site of action appears to be the tumoural corticotrope as retinoic acid inhibits POMC transcription and corticotrope proliferation (Paez-Pereda et al. JCI 2001). Studies on tumoural adrenal cell lines have revealed an additional inhibitory effect on cell proliferation and stimulated co...

Retinoic acid, a major modulator of adrenal development and differentiation, has also been shown to inhibit ACTH secretion by tumoral corticotropes. Recent clinical trials in patients with Cushing’s disease revealed that retinoic acid exerts beneficial effects in these patients (1, 2). Of note, the decrease in cortisol secretion during retinoic acid administration was more pronounced than the change in ACTH levels (1) suggesting a direct action at adrenal level. Aim of th...

Introduction: We have previously reported on the considerable variability in ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas in terms of responses to major modulators in vitro (Pecori Giraldi et al J. Neuroendocrinol. 2011). Further studies revealed also differences in gene expression profiles in specimens analyzed by microarray analysis. Aim of this study is to correlate transcriptome expression pattern in archival human ACTH-secreting adenomas with clinical features of patients p...