Endocrine Abstracts

The pituitary has been classically considered the ‘Master Gland’, owing to its ability to regulate the function of the other endocrine glands of the body. However, the hypophysis also served over the years as a master, guiding example to enlighten multiple fields of experimental biology and medicine, from classic physiology to modern cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology. Somatostatin and its receptors (sst1-5) comprise a classic regulatory system, initial...

Prolonged spontaneous remission of hypercortisolemia in ectopic ACTH syndrome after long-term treatment with steroidogenesis inhibitors has been described. Direct drug effect on the adrenal glands, effects on tumoral ACTH secretion and/or POMC gene expression have been suggested. Medical treatment could be used for symptoms, but also for disease control.Materials and methods: In human BON-1 and DMS-79 cells, we have evaluated the effects of keto...

Endocrine-related cancers comprise a complex group of heterogeneous pathologies whose development and progression are profoundly conditioned by endocrine–metabolic deregulations. The well-known capacity of somatostatin (SST) to inhibit hormone secretion and cell proliferation in a wide variety of cell types, coupled to the ubiquitous expression of SST receptors (ssts) in normal and tumoral tissues, has led SST analogs (SSAs) to be extensively used in clinical practice for...

Prostate cancer (PC), the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among men, is a complex and heterogeneous disease that is highly influenced by the endocrine environment, which makes difficult the identification of novel therapeutic biomarkers to treat this pathology. Somatostatin (SST) is a pleiotropic neuropeptide that exerts its multiple biological functions, including tumor cell regulation, through a family of receptors (named sst1-5). Particularly, in this study we have found...

Obesity (Ob) is a chronic endocrine-metabolic disease and one of the most serious and complex threats for the human health, which is associated with an increased incidence of some types of cancers such as prostate cancer (PC), the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Interestingly, metformin (Met), an antidiabetic drug, might represents a very promising opportunity to treat Ob and PC as some retrospective clinical studies have shown that the incidence of PC is lower in ...

Somatostatin (SST) and its related peptide cortistatin (CORT) exert multiple physiological actions through binding to a family of G-protein coupled receptors (sst1–sst5), commonly bearing seven transmembrane domains (TMDs). However, we have recently discovered that human, pig and rodent sst5 gene also generate, through non-canonical alternative splicing, novel truncated albeit functional sst5 variants that lack one o more TMDs. Our studies indicate that truncated sst5 var...

Introduction: Somatostatin analogs (SSAs) are the first-line clinical treatment for patients with pituitary adenomas (PAs) but their efficacy is highly variable among patients. This could be due to a differential expression of somatostatin receptor subtypes (Ssts) among tumors, but this issue is still unresolved. Nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs), which mostly derive from gonadotroph cells, are among the tumors that poorly respond to SSAs. Rats carrying a germline loss...

Secretion of GH by pituitary somatotropes is primarily stimulated by GHRH and ghrelin and inhibited by SST through the activation of specific receptors (GHRH-R, GHS-R and Sstr1-5, respectively). However, we have previously shown that SST, at low doses, can also stimulate GH release, directly and specifically, in primary pituitary cell cultures from baboons (Papio anubis) and pigs. To determine whether these primary regulators of GH release can also regulate directly the...

TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas (thyrotropinomas or TSH-omas) are rare. At diagnosis, TSH-omas are frequently macroadenomas presenting with variable symptoms, and signs of hyperthyroidism. Somatostatin analogs (SSA) are a very efficient treatment to improve clinical signs in patients with TSH-omas, reducing hormone levels (90%) and causing tumor shrinkage (50%).Inhibitory effects of SSA are mediated by a family of five somatostatin receptor subtypes (sst1-5), with sst2 and ss...

Kisspeptins (Kp), a peptide family encoded by Kiss1 gene, and their receptor Kiss1r were first identified by their anti-metastatic actions but have emerged as key regulators of the reproductive axis, where they integrate sexual, metabolic and seasonal cues to control hypothalamic GnRH release. Recent data indicates that some actions of Kps may be effected directly at the pituitary (PIT), since Kissr1 is expressed in the PIT and Kp stimulate luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion d...