Endocrine Abstracts

Gliomas are derived from glial-cells and are the most common primary brain tumor, characterized by rapid growth and invasion. Astrocytomas are a subset of malignant gliomas which are classified, based on their agresiveness features, in low grades (I and II) to high grades (HGAs; III and IV), being grade-IV (glioblastoma multiforme; GBM) the most malignant and aggressive type. Current standard treatment for GBMs consists on surgery followed by radiotherapy/chemotherapy; however...

Glioblastoma (GBM; grade IV astrocytoma) is the one of the most malignant and lethal endocrine-related cancers worldwide. Current standard treatment consists of surgery followed by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy; however, this is only a palliative approach with a mean post-operative survival of scarcely ~12-15 months. Therefore, the identification of novel therapeutic targets to treat this devastating pathology is urgently needed. In this context, the truncated splicing-vari...

Prostate cancer (PCa) represents the most diagnosed tumour pathology in developed countries among men population. The main pharmacological approach to treat this pathology is based on the blockade of the androgen receptor signalling pathway, commonly known as androgen-deprivation therapy. However, some of the patients does no longer respond to this therapy, therefore developing castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), the most aggressive phenotype of this pathology, which ...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among men population worldwide. This tumour pathology is commonly diagnosed through the determination of serum PSA levels. However, the diagnostic capability of PSA dramatically drops when considering patients with PSA levels lower than 10 ng/ml, the so-called “grey-zone”1. Therefore, additional non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers are urgently needed to substitute/complement PSA. In this se...

Astrocytomas are a subtype of malignant gliomas characterized by rapid growth and high diffusion through the brain. Based on the agresiveness features, they are stratified from low grades (I and II) to high grades (HGAs; III and IV), being grade-IV [glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)] the most aggressive and one of the most common malignant cancers in the brain, with an overall survival from diagnosis of ~14 months. Current standard therapies to treat HGAs are not efficient and the...

IntroductionCushing’s disease is the result of prolonged exposure to excess cortisol caused by a pituitary tumor, known as corticotropinoma, which hypersecretes adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). Treatment with somatostatin analogs (SSA) has been shown to reduce hormone secretion and, to a lower extent, tumor growth in some subtypes of pituitary tumors, such as growth hormone secreting tumors. However, SSA are commonly ineffective in corticotropinomas. Pre...

Endocrine-metabolic alterations such as obesity and metabolic syndrome are closely linked to the development of chronic liver diseases, from metabolic-associated fatty liver (MAFLD) to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). An emerging hallmark of endocrine-metabolic and hepatic diseases is the appearance or altered expression of pathological splicing variants (SVs). In fact, the components of the cellular machinery involved in the splicing pr...

Background: Cushing’s disease is the result of prolonged and excessive exposure to cortisol caused by a pituitary tumor. Treatment with somatostatin analogs (SSA), which can reduce hormone secretion and tumor growth in other pituitary tumors (e.g., somatotropinomas), is usually ineffective in corticotropinomas. Previous studies indicated that presence of the truncated SST5TMD4 receptor variant is associated with a lack of response to SSA in acromegaly; but, its presence a...