Endocrine Abstracts

Postprandial hypotension (PPH) is common for older adults and may lead to syncope and falls. Adults with autonomic dysfunction, commonly those with diabetes mellitus (DM), are also at risk for PPH. Reported prevalence rates are 40% for PPH in DM patients. To date there are no reliable treatments for this condition in DM patients. It was our objective to demonstrate Acarbose, an α-glucosidase inhibitor, decreases the degree of PPH in an elderly DM cohort.<p class="abst...

Background: Insulin resistance is the reduced responsiveness of the body to the glucose-lowering activity of insulin. It is usually associated with obesity, but in a minority of patients, this is not the case. Single gene mutations can often be found in such patients, some of which affect the insulin receptor (INSR). There is a spectrum of genetic insulin receptoropathies. These can be considered as two groups. One group comprises rare, severe, autosomal recessive disorders: D...

Circulating levels of the antiangiogenic protein vasoinhibin (16 kDa PRL), a fragment of prolactin, are of interest in vasoproliferative retinopathies, preeclampsia, and peripartum cardiomyopathy, but are unknown due to the lack of a quantitative assay. Here, human serum samples were investigated for the concentration and bioactivity of vasoinhibin using a novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human vasoinhibin employing an anti-vasoinhibin monoclonal antibody, a...

Vasoinhibin, historically also known as 16K PRL, is a peptide hormone with antiangiogenic, antivasodilatatory, and antivasopermeability effects generated by proteolytic cleavage of prolactin (PRL). The discovery of its role in diabetic retinopathy and peripartum cardiomyopathy led to the development of new pharmacological treatments and their evaluation in clinical interventional trials (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03161652 and NCT00998556). Recent insights into the func...