Endocrine Abstracts

Serum was collected with ethical approval from Vanderbilt Medical Center, USA for blinded analysis between clinical phenotypes; heritable and idiopathic PAH patients (hPAH n=13, 14; iPAH n=7, 12) compared to non-PAH control (n =17, 17) (female, males, respectively). Quantification of circulating estrogens in human bio-fluids may reveal insights into disease aetiology but has been hampered through inadequate sensitivity and specificity of immunoassays...

Background: Adipose tissue dysfunction could partially explain the well-demonstrated association between obesity and survival in breast cancer (BC). Oestrogen and glucocorticoid concentrations and their respective activation enzymes, oestrogenic 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (17βHSDs) and aromatase, and 11βHSD1 are increased in adipocyte hyperplasia and hypertrophy, supporting the hypothesis of a potential role for locally generated steroids in obesity-assoc...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease characterised by increased pulmonary arterial pressures due to clustered proliferation of cells within the vessel. Untreated this leads to right heart failure and premature death. PAH predominates in females implicating sex hormones, in particular estrogenic metabolites, as being key in the progression of PAH phenotypes. We hypothesised that hydroxy and methoxy estrogens, with known proliferative and anti-prolifera...

BackgroundObesity is closely associated with impaired adipose tissue function. Although bariatric surgery is the treatment of choice for severe obesity and its related conditions, there are conflicting data on the reversal of adipose tissue dysfunction after surgery-induced weight loss. We hypothesise that local steroid hormone availability influences fat deposition or mobilisation and that these changes track with weight loss improvements, because plasm...