Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Although the role of hypermethylation of certain tumor suppressor genes are known in pituitary adenomas little information is available regarding whole methylation-demethylation status and especially regarding its correlation with clinical parameters. High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) is an easy and accurate method to detect the level of methylcytosine (5 mC) and the demethylation intermedier hydroxymethylcytosine (5 hmC) ...

Background: In our previous works the interdependence of DNA demethylation with proliferation and differentiation of pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (PitNET) and the inhibitory effect of Aspirin on pituitary cell proliferation were demonstrated. Although the role of Aspirin in epigenetic regulation was described in other malignancies, its correlation with pituitary tumorigenesis is currently unknown.Our objective: was to investigate the genomic and epig...

Introduction: The capability of cancer to accommodate to special metabolic circumstances is a hallmark of it’s existence. Pheochromocytoma/paragangliomas (Pheo/PGL) are rare neuroendocrine tumors with strong and specific metabolic phenotype due to mutations of genes encoding succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) subunits. In this study our aim was to evaluate the expression of glutaminase-1 in hereditary Pheo/PGL tissues and to inhibit SDH activity via pharmacological treatments ...

The succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) enzyme complex consisting of four subunits (SDHA, SDHB, SDHC and SDHD) has a dual function in the process of mitochondrial energy generation. It converts succinate to fumarate as part of the TCA cycle and also transfers electrons to ubiquinone as part of the electron transport chain. Mutation in any subunit of the enzyme complex increases the risk for the development of neuroendocrine tumors including paraganglioma (PGL) and pheochromocytoma (...

Pheochromocytoma/paragangliomas (Pheo/PGL) are rare neuroendocrine cancers with strong genetic background. Mutations in the SDHB subunit of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) predispose to malignant disease with limited therapeutic options and poor prognosis. Novel prognostic markers and therapeutic targets are required to decrease the high mortality rate. Glutaminases play a crucial role in the metabolism of SDH impaired tumor cells. By using a host of cellular and molecu...