Endocrine Abstracts

Growth hormone (GH)-producing pituitary cells (somatotropes) comprise a fundamental regulator for a plethora of relevant physiological functions, including somatic growth and whole-body metabolism, by controlling the function of different endocrine/non-endocrine targets. Synthesis and release of GH has been classically thought to be primarily regulated by central, dual neuroendocrine signals: i.e. GH-releasing hormone and somatostatin. However, it is progressively becoming evi...

Endocrine-related cancers comprise a complex group of heterogeneous pathologies whose development and progression are profoundly conditioned by endocrine–metabolic deregulations. The well-known capacity of somatostatin (SST) to inhibit hormone secretion and cell proliferation in a wide variety of cell types, coupled to the ubiquitous expression of SST receptors (ssts) in normal and tumoral tissues, has led SST analogs (SSAs) to be extensively used in clinical practice for...

Prostate cancer (PC), the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among men, is a complex and heterogeneous disease that is highly influenced by the endocrine environment, which makes difficult the identification of novel therapeutic biomarkers to treat this pathology. Somatostatin (SST) is a pleiotropic neuropeptide that exerts its multiple biological functions, including tumor cell regulation, through a family of receptors (named sst1-5). Particularly, in this study we have found...

Obesity (Ob) is a chronic endocrine-metabolic disease and one of the most serious and complex threats for the human health, which is associated with an increased incidence of some types of cancers such as prostate cancer (PC), the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Interestingly, metformin (Met), an antidiabetic drug, might represents a very promising opportunity to treat Ob and PC as some retrospective clinical studies have shown that the incidence of PC is lower in ...

Somatostatin (SST) and its related peptide cortistatin (CORT) exert multiple physiological actions through binding to a family of G-protein coupled receptors (sst1–sst5), commonly bearing seven transmembrane domains (TMDs). However, we have recently discovered that human, pig and rodent sst5 gene also generate, through non-canonical alternative splicing, novel truncated albeit functional sst5 variants that lack one o more TMDs. Our studies indicate that truncated sst5 var...

GH levels decline with age and weight gain and are enhanced in response to nutrient deprivation. Under these circumstances, GH levels are negatively correlated with IGF1 and insulin levels. Since IGF1 and insulin can directly inhibit GH synthesis and release from primary pituitary cells of different species, it is commonly accepted that changes in circulating IGF1 and insulin serve to directly regulate somatotrope function in response to metabolic extremes. However, teasing ap...

Secretion of GH by pituitary somatotropes is primarily stimulated by GHRH and ghrelin and inhibited by SST through the activation of specific receptors (GHRH-R, GHS-R and Sstr1-5, respectively). However, we have previously shown that SST, at low doses, can also stimulate GH release, directly and specifically, in primary pituitary cell cultures from baboons (Papio anubis) and pigs. To determine whether these primary regulators of GH release can also regulate directly the...

Background: Acromegaly is the consequence of excessive growth hormone (GH) secretion, usually produced by a pituitary adenoma. In the last years, statins have been implicated in the response to treatment of patients with acromegaly. Although this fact is not very clear.Objective: To analyze whether pretreatment with statins modifies the adenoma molecular phenotype of the acromegalic patients and how this changes could help to influence the response to tr...

Kisspeptins (Kp), a peptide family encoded by Kiss1 gene, and their receptor Kiss1r were first identified by their anti-metastatic actions but have emerged as key regulators of the reproductive axis, where they integrate sexual, metabolic and seasonal cues to control hypothalamic GnRH release. Recent data indicates that some actions of Kps may be effected directly at the pituitary (PIT), since Kissr1 is expressed in the PIT and Kp stimulate luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion d...

Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a growing cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the molecular mechanisms associated with the pathological progression from MAFLD to HCC are still to be fully elucidated. The genomic and transcriptomic profile of HCC samples have been widely described; however, the proteomic landscape of MAFLD-derived HCC samples is mostly unknown. Here, we sought to perform the first quantitative proteomic analysis of HCC samples from ...