Endocrine Abstracts

The question on how cells, tissues and organisms are able to detect energy/nutrient availability has been the focus of research for many years. Data gleaned recently have identified different nutrient-sensing circuits implicated in the regulation of different homeostatic process. Furthermore, there has been a steady increase in our knowledge regarding the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in nutrient detection and integration. In particular, this has allowed for a bet...

This prestigious prize is intended for established workers in the field of basic and clinical neuroendocrinology and is generously supported by Ipsen. This year’s recipient is Prof. Carlos Dieguez. The prize will be presented as part of the ECE 2015 opening ceremony where Prof. Dieguez will deliver his lecture. Prof. Dieguez will also deliver two other lectures at future ESE scientific meetings. Further information can be found at <a href="http://www.ese-hormones.org/priz...

Liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2 (LEAP-2) has been recently characterized as an endogenous GHSR1a antagonist. LEAP-2 is produced mainly in the liver, and it was described that an acute ghrelin administration blocks food intake, GH release and normalize glucose levels during chronic caloric restriction. For this reason, it could be considered as a key endocrine factor in the regulation of systemic energy metabolism. Nevertheless, the exact mechanism of action is still un...

Nur77 is an orphan nuclear receptor included in the NR4A family. This protein has been studied as a transcriptional regulator of glucose metabolism in different tissues. We aimed to investigate the endogenous role of Nur77 on energy and metabolic homeostasis. For this purpose, we used male and female Nur77-deficient mice and their wild-type littermates. We challenged them to standard diet and high fat diet, and analyzed different parameters involved in energy balance (food int...

The importance of cell cycle regulation in pituitary biology has been suggested from the fact that many gene-targeted mouse models of cell cycle mutations develop diverse pituitary pathologies. The retinoblastoma protein (pRb)/cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (Cdk4) pathway, one of the major mitogen-sensor routes in the cell, seems to be critical in the control of pituitary cell proliferation. Both inactivation of pRb or hyperactivation of Cdk4 result in pituitary hyperplasias or tum...

Obesity protects from osteoporosis. Bone remodeling and energy metabolism could be regulated by the adipocyte-derived hormone, leptin acting on osteoblasts though hypothalamic pathways. Hypothalamic lesions cause obesity. Since most of these patients are also hypopituitary with low IGF1 which could affect bone metabolism the aim of our study was to investigate whether obesity would protect them from osteoporosis.Three groups of patients were studied: (1)...

Ghrelin is a pleiotropic hormone characterized mainly by its strong orexigenic action and its role as GH secretagogue.Age-related level variation of this hormone has been previously shown in different studies centred in mARN expression and in its plasma levels; however there is no data about its secretion directly from the stomach although this is the main ghrelin producing organ.Objectives: To determine the levels of ghrelin in th...

Introduction: Krüpel-like factor 4 (KLF4) is a zinc-finger-type transcription factor expressed in a range of tissues that plays multiple functions. KLF4 is expressed in neural stem cells and is critical to neuronal differentiation. Recent evidence suggests that KLF4 also plays an important role in the central regulation of energy balance. In vitro studies show that KLF4 is a transcriptional regulator of agouti–related protein (AgRP), essential to the hyperph...

Introduction: Endoglin is a transmembrane auxiliary receptor for transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) that is predominantly expressed on proliferating endothelial cells. It plays a wide range of physiological roles but its importance on energy balance or insulin sensitivity has been unexplored.Material and methods: Heterozygous deficient mice (HZ) were fed standard chow or high fat diet during 16 weeks. Blood glucose levels were measured after ...

Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are mostly benign lesions originating from the anterior pituitary and represent 10–15% of all the intracranial neoplasms. PitNETs can be classified in non-secretory, clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs), and secretory, comprising prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH) and adrenocoticotropic hormone (ACTH) PitNETs. Surgical resection is the first line treatment for PitNETs, whereas chemotherapy and radiotherapy are p...