Endocrine Abstracts

Over the last 50 years, different studies have been carried out in the field of male hormonal contraception. Two multicenter efficacy studies supported by WHO in which the prototype testosterone-alone regimen was used, have demonstrated the validity of the principle of male hormonal contraception. Contraceptive protection is dependent on the degree of sperm suppression. Azoospermia is certainly the gold standard for this type of contraceptive since no pregnancies were reported...

Breast cancer cells may present a number of resistance mechanisms to conventional therapy, and therefore new treatments are under evaluation. The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDI) valproic acid (VPA) is of particular interest, since having been used for a long time in neurological patients its side-effects and tolerability are well known. We have recently demonstrated that VPA is a powerful antiproliferative agent in estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells. Unfortunately, its...

Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), the specific plasma carrier for sex steroids, regulates hormone bioavailable fraction and estrogen signalling system in breast cancer cells. A common single nucleotide polymorphism in the human SHBG gene results in an amino acid substitution (Asp327Asn), which introduces an additional N-glycosylation site that has been associated with reduced breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. Since wild-type SHBG was demonstrated to interfe...

TU is an effective option for androgen replacement in FtM subjects, but long-term physiological effects and the significance of T and its metabolites dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and estradiol (E) on physiological functions are unclear. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of long-term TU treatment on bone metabolism, body composition and lipid profile in FtM subjects and to evaluate the relationship between the observed effects and circulating levels of T, E and D...

Background: Despite male idiopathic infertility is characterized by semen analysis alteration with gonadotropins within reference ranges, it is still considered a functional hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (FHH). This simple definition is fundamental to guide the empirical therapeutic approach of these men. However, the number of studies describing total testosterone serum levels (TT) in male idiopathic infertility is still limited.Objective: To evaluate T...

State of the art: In pharmacology, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is considered equivalent to luteinising hormone (LH) since both act on the same receptor. Thus, when testicular function needs to be clinically restored (i.e. in case of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism [HH]), hCG is used instead of LH. However, growing evidences showed LH and hCG activate different molecular pathways and offer different outcomes in women undergoing assisted reproduction. The different action b...