Endocrine Abstracts

‘The essence of scientific responsibility is the inner drive, the inner necessity to get to the bottom of things; to be discontented until one has done so; to express one’s reservations fully and honestly; and to be prepared to admit error.’ (A. Weinberg 1978 ‘The Obligations of Citizenship in the Republic of Science’ Minerva 16:1–3). Fraud and plagiarism never knowingly come into the equation. Any form of public communication by you...

“In the Lucanian woods among the oaks ‖ Of green Alburnus’ slopes there swarms a fly ‖ (By us called gad-fly, oestrus by the Greeks). ‖ It's fierce and buzzes monstrously: whole herds ‖ In terror of it scatter through the woods, ‖ Until the sky rings with their bellowing…” Virgil, Georgics, Book III [K.R. Mackenzie's translation].Virgil's description of ...

Ovarian cancer is the most fatal of all gynaecological malignancies. EOC accounts for >90% of malignant ovarian tumours and is thought to originate mostly from OSE cells. Epidemiological data suggest EOC is oestrogen responsive and we previously showed active oestrogen could be produced locally by EOC cells, but not by normal OSE cells, through the combined activities of steroid sulfatase (STS) and 17βhydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. We now investigate if EST, which conv...

The intraperitoneal environment of the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) has an oxygen (O2) tension of 5–12%. This could impact cellular events leading to ovulation. Furthermore, ovarian cancers arising from the OSE (∼80–90% of ovarian malignancies) are likely to experience increased hypoxia due to the relatively poor vascularisation of solid tumours.Using 1%, 5% or 20% O2, we measured the expression of HSD11B1, COX-2...

At least 90% of human ovarian cancers originate in the OSE. Most studies indicate that EOC is oestrogen responsive. Paradoxically, ovarian cancer generally occurs after the menopause, which raises the question if oestrogen is involved, where does it come from? We hypothesise that the high circulating concentrations of conjugated (inactive) oestrogens in post-menopausal women are substrates for formation of active oestrogen in the OSE through the hydrolytic enzyme activity of S...

Abdominal surgery and diseases such as endometriosis cause persistent abdominal adhesions leading to pelvic pain, infertility and in severe cases, bowel obstruction. Current treatments are ineffective and the aetiology is unclear, although excessive collagen deposition is a consistent feature. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is a key enzyme required for crosslinking and deposition of insoluble collagen.10–12 weeks old female C57Bl/6 mice (3–10 mice per gro...