Endocrine Abstracts

Neuroendocrine balance of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) is a critical component in the control of metabolic homeostasis, and its dysregulation can contribute to severe pathologies, like obesity, where the HPA is significantly altered at the central and systemic levels. Somatostatin and cortistatin have been shown to reduce circulating ACTH and glucocorticoid-levels in rodents and humans in vivo. However, to date, no studies have thoroughly investigated and compa...

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 ...

Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is rapidly becoming a major aetiology for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, the most common liver cancer) in the context of chronic liver disease. Current therapeutical options for MAFLD (dietetic/lifestyle intervention and/or pharmacological approaches) are still insufficient and the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this disease are yet to be fully understood. Our group previously reported that the n...

Somatostatin (SST) and cortistatin (CORT) are two highly related neuropeptides involved in the regulation of several endocrine secretions. In particular, SST and CORT are two primary negative regulators of GH secretion. Consequently, SST or CORT knockout (KO) mice exhibit elevated GH levels; however, this does not lead to increased IGF-I levels or somatic growth, which has been suggested that could be due to a compensatory mechanism between both peptides. In order to test this...

Obestatin is a 23-amino acid amidated peptide that is encoded by the ghrelin gene and was therefore presumed to have regulatory effects on pituitary. However, the limited set of studies performed hitherto suggests that obestatin has no major effect on hormone secretion, in vivo or in vitro, from rodent pituitary, whereas no comparable data is still available on primates. Here, primary pituitary cell cultures from a non-human primate (baboon; Papio anubis) served ...

The neuropeptide somatostatin (SRIF) exerts a wide variety of actions through five SRIF receptors (sst1-5). However, not all SRIF actions can be explained by activation of the known sst. In this context, our research group has identified two novel isoforms of sst subtype 5 (sst5A) named sst5B and sst5C expressed in human and pig. These isoforms are generated by splicing of cryptic introns within the coding sequence, which alters the open reading frame, and results in new, trun...

Development of type-2 diabetes (T2D) is critically affected by the loss of phenotypic flexibility. There is emerging evidence suggesting that, under adverse metabolic conditions, alternative mRNA splicing is markedly dysregulated at different levels. For this reason, we hypothesized that such dysregulation could contribute to loss of phenotypic flexibility. Consequently, we aimed to explore whether changes in the splicing machinery in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)...

Obesity, a multifactorial chronic endocrine-metabolic disease, represents one of the most serious and complex global health threats, as it is commonly associated with multiple and severe comorbidities (e.g. diabetes type-2). Indeed, as a source of severe metabolic-dysregulation, obesity alters physiological, homeostatic gene expression patters in multiple metabolic-tissues, including the central metabolic hub, i.e. the liver. However, the precise molecular mechanisms underlyin...

Hormonal signalling plays a key role in the progression of metabolic (dysfunction)-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the role of somatostatin (SST), cortistatin (CORT), neuronostatin (NST) and ghrelin systems in MAFLD-HCC progression has not yet been elucidated. We characterized the role of SST/CORT/NST and ghrelin systems in chronic liver disease and evaluated their clinical potential. The expression of the components of the SS...