Endocrine Abstracts

Stem cell therapy offers a far-sighted opportunity to cure Type 1 diabetes. To achieve this ambitious goal, an in depth understanding of how human beta cells normally develop is critical, as it provides the perfect model for the differentiation of stem cells down normal safe developmental pathways. Our data provide a framework of human pancreas development and islet formation, highlighting subtle differences from the parallel process in mouse. Key genes have been identified th...

Androgen excess is a key feature of the polycystic ovary syndrome; however the molecular mechanisms underlying its pathogenesis largely remain elusive. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) is the most abundant steroid in the human circulation but only unconjugated dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) can be converted to active androgens. Conversely, conversion of DHEA to its sulfate ester DHEAS by DHEA sulfotransferase, SULT2A1, diminishes the DHEA pool available for androgen gener...