Endocrine Abstracts

It has been postulated that ACTH might modulate its own secretion by a negative feedback loop and we have recently found that the ACTH receptor (MC2R) is present in both normal and tumorous human corticotrophs. In this study we investigated the expression of the ACTH receptor in mouse and rat pituitary tissue as well as mouse pituitary tumour (AtT20) cells and studied the effect of Synacthen (ACTH [1-24]) on ACTH secretion, cAMP release and cell proliferation in AtT20 cells. M...

It has been reported that both normal pituitary and pituitary tumours express PPAR gamma, a nuclear hormone receptor, the expression being much more abundant in pituitary tumours. It has also been suggested that PPAR gamma agonists, such as the thiazolidenediones, could be used as a therapeutic option for pituitary tumours. In order to investigate this further, 'Real time' PCR was used to assess PPAR gamma RNA expression, and Western blotting and immunohistochemistry was used ...

Mitogenic signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases that involve increased activity of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and over-activation of protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) triggers a cascade of responses that drive tumour progression in a variety of human cancers. Some of these events have been associated with diminished expression of the cell cycle inhibitor p27 through inhibition of a Forkhead transcription factor (FKHR-L1) by Akt, while some others have recently been reporte...