Endocrine Abstracts

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive neuro-endocrine tumour with an abysmal prognosis. These cancers are characteristically resistant to glucocorticoid (Gc) action, and display glucocorticoid receptor (GR) abnormalities. We therefore selected model cell lines displaying reduced GR expression and Gc insensitivity as tractable in vitro systems in which to discover the effects of restored GR expression. GR fused to the yellow fluorescent protein, eYFP, was over-e...

An extraordinary array of behavioural and physiological systems is regulated by endogenous circadian timekeepers within mammals. This circadian machinery is comprised of intricate autoregulatory transcription feedback loops, which interact to generate a time delay of approximately 24 hours in the cyclical transcription of components. In addition to the master clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus it is clear that peripheral tissues also express clock components. The central clo...

Glucocorticoids (Gcs) are important regulators of cellular homeostasis, with their effects mediated by the intracellular glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Once activated, the GR may initiate rapid effects within the cytoplasm, but also translocate to the nucleus to affect gene transcription. The subcellular localisation of the GR is therefore an important determinant in the cellular response to Gcs.To analyse subcellular trafficking of the GR, HeLa cells wer...

Pituitary apoplexy is an acute medical emergency but there are no evidence based management guidelines, especially for neurosurgical intervention.A 35-year old male presented with sudden onset severe headache. On examination blood pressure was 180/120 without any lateralising neurological signs. He appeared acromegalic with a short history of enlarging hands & feet. Emergency CT scan and a MR scan later confirmed haemorrhagic pituitary adenoma, 3 cm ...

Management of patients with gender dysphoria (transsexualism) is often difficult, and most patients are routinely managed outwith specialist gender identity clinics. We carried out a retrospective case-note survey of 21 patients attending a routine adult endocrine clinic (ages 24–64 y; 13 male-to-female (MF) and 8 female-to-male (FM)).All MF and 6 of 8 FM patients were on hormonal treatment. 6 of 13 MF patients took oestrogen alone, 6 used oestrogen...

Glucocorticoids (Gcs) act via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to inhibit proliferation of many epithelial cell types, and induce apoptosis in others, notably lymphoblastic leukemia. Resistance to Gcs occurs in human small cell lung cancer (SCLC), manifest clinically as dysregulated secretion of ACTH-related peptides. Currently nothing is known of the biological consequences such resistance causes. We have previously shown that a panel of human SCLC cell lines secrete ACTH rel...