Endocrine Abstracts

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The capacity of the adrenal to produce steroids is controlled in part through the transcriptional regulation of steroid enzymes. Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1), an orphan nuclear receptor is thought to be central to the transcriptional regulation of all steroid hydroxylase enzymes. Recently co-regulatory proteins have been implicated in the modulation of nuclear receptor transcriptional activity. We hypothesised that classic and novel secretogogues, including forskolin, angiote...

Introduction:Hepatic IGF-I is generally believed to be regulated by pituitary-derived GH. However recent studies have emphasized the importance of paracrine/autocrine IGF-I in normal growth and development, as well as some malignancies. However, it remains unclear how locally produced IGF-I is regulated. The aim of this project was to investigate IGF-I expression in different tissues from the growth hormone receptor knock-out (GHR-KO) mouse.<p class=...

Alstrom syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by obesity, sensorineural deafness, cone-rod dystrophy and hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism. Diabetes in these patients is characterised by severe insulin resistance.We describe the management of diabetes in a 28 year old male patient with Alstrom syndrome and severe insulin resistance. Obesity developed early in childhood and at 3 years weight was 22.2 kg. Genetic studies revealed that the patient is a compo...

The capacity of the adrenal to produce cortisol is controlled in part by the transcription of 21 hydroxylase(CYP21) and production of androgens by 17 hydroxylase/17-20 lyase(CYP17) in response to secretogoues including ACTH, angiotensin-II(A-II) and forskolin. Both mRNA and protein expression of CYP21 was upregulated in the presence of forskolin and A-II alone and in combination in vitro H-295 adrenocortical cells, as detected by northern and western blotting. Whereas, ...

The adrenal cortex produces aldosterone, cortisol and adrenal androgens. ACTH regulates the production of both cortisol and adrenal androgens. However there are physiological and pathophysiological conditions where the production of these steroids is divergent. We examined the effect angiotension II (A-II) and insulin on the relative production of cortisol and adrenal androgens in the human adrenal H-295 cell line. We determined the ability of these secretogogues to regulate t...

The adrenal cortex produces aldosterone, cortisol and adrenal androgens in response to secretogogues including ACTH, angiotensin II(A-II) and insulin. Differential regulation of adrenal steroids is through the modulation of specific key steroidogenic enzymes. The capacity of the adrenal to produce cortisol is controlled in part by the transcription of 3beta-hydroxysteroiddehydrogenase (3beta HSD) and production of adrenal androgens by 17 hydroxylase/17-20 lyase (CYP17). Protei...

A 28 years old lady presented at 21 weeks gestation with bipedal oedema and 4 week history of easy bruising and weakness and aching of the thighs. She had no significant past medical history and had prior uneventful pregnancy 17 months previously. On examination she was hypertensive (180/100 mmHg), had puffy face, prominent abdominal striae and bilateral leg oedema. Serum potassium was 2.6 mmol/l and random plasma glucose was 8.6 mmol/l. OGTT confirmed gestational diabetes and...

Background: Sporadic colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is more common on the left side of the colon. Acromegaly confers an increased risk of developing CRC but with an increase of right sided disease. IGFBP-3 both regulates tissue exposure to IGF-I and also exerts cellular IGF-l independent pro-apoptotic effects. Whether variation in regional IGFBP-3 expression in the colon may explain the observed pattern of disease in both normal and acromegalic patients is unknown.Aim: 1) To c...