Endocrine Abstracts

Osteoporosis-related fractures constitute a major health concern not only in women but also in men. The relative contribution of estrogens and androgens for the male skeleton remains unclear. Most epidemiological studies demonstrate that serum estradiol is a stronger predictor of bone mineral density than serum testosterone. However, conflicting results have been presented regarding the impact of serum sex steroids for fracture risk in men, probably because previous studies ha...

Osteoporosis-related fractures constitute a major health concern not only in women but also in men. The relative contribution of estrogens and androgens for the male skeleton remains unclear. Most epidemiological studies demonstrate that serum estradiol is a stronger predictor of bone mineral density than serum testosterone. However, conflicting results have been presented regarding the impact of serum sex steroids for fracture risk in men, probably because previous studies ha...

The European Journal of Endocrinology Prize is awarded to a candidate who has significantly contributed to the advancement of knowledge in the field of endocrinology through publication. This year's recipient is Professor Claes Ohlsson. The prize will be presented as part of the ECE 2008 opening ceremony where Professor Ohlsson will deliver his lecture. Professor Ohlsson will also write a review article based on this lecture to be published in the Euro...

Recent findings revealed 3,5-diiodo-L-thyronine (3,5-T2) as a metabolically active iodothyronine affecting hepatic energy and lipid metabolism. Therefore, 3,5-T2 has been proposed as a potential hypolipidemic agent for treatment of obesity and its hepatic aftermath. So far only limited data exists relating to the effects of 3,5-T2 on metabolism in euthyroid mammals maintained on high-fat diet from the day of weaning onwards. Therefore, we performed a study in wh...

Introduction: The hyperandrogenic in utero environment in pregnant women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can affect embryo development and impair offspring health at adult age. Moreover, long term hyperandrogenic exposure also leads to unfavored changes to the mothers’ reproductive physiology, leading to miscarriage, preterm delivery, and perinatal mortality. The underlying mechanism(s) of pregnancy complications associated with PCOS and the consequence of ...

Introduction: Pubertal sex steroids are indispensable for peak bone mass acquisition as well as skeletal sexual dimorphism. In males, both androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) are required for optimal periosteal cortical bone expansion, while estrogens limit bone size in females. In early puberty, estrogens directly stimulate longitudinal growth via ERα in cartilage, but also indirectly via growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF...

The growth of prostate cancer (PCa) can be suppressed by androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). However, in a significant proportion of men receiving ADT PCa progresses to castration-resistant prostate cancer, associated with activation of intratumoral androgen biosynthesis and induced androgen receptor (AR) expression. Accordingly, we have recently shown that the castration-resistant VCaP (CR-VCaP) xenografts express high level of AR and retain detectable intratumoral androgen c...

The importance of the androgen receptor (AR) in the development and maintenance of the male phenotype is demonstrated by patients with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS). These patients carry germline mutations in the AR and display a mild to complete intersex phenotype. The AR belongs to the subfamily of steroid receptors, which need to form homodimers to execute their role as transcription factors. For estrogen receptors, dimerization via the DNA-binding domains as well a...

The role of progesterone in male physiology is mainly unknown. We recently observed that progesterone was the most abundant sex hormone in orchiectomized (ORX) mice with most of it stored in white adipose tissue (WAT) (1). The aim of the present study was to use a sensitive and validated gas chromatography/tandem mass spectroscopy method to determine the origins of progesterone in male mice. Tissue levels of progesterone were high in adrenals of male mice, indicating that male...

Our previous study showed that polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)-like reproductive and metabolic phenotypes induced by maternal dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-exposure, can be passed on in mice from mothers (F0) to daughters (F1), granddaughters (F2), and even to great-granddaughters (F3). The female transmission is independent of diet-induced obesity and is mediated by transcriptional and mitochondrial perturbations of oocytes accompany. ...