Endocrine Abstracts

The interplay between the von Hippel Lindau (VHL) protein and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) will be reviewed and the extent to which this explains the pathogenesis of VHL disease will be discussed.HIF is a master regulator of the transcriptional response to diminished tissue oxygenation, controlling such processes as angiogenesis, erythropoietin production, cellular metabolism and influencing cell proliferation / survival decisions. HIF itself is a heterodimer, dominantly...

BackgroundHeart failure is a syndrome of vaso-constriction and hormone abnormalities. There is an excess of catabolic and vasoconstrictor hormones and a relative deficiency of anabolic hormones. Vaso-dilating drugs improve symptoms in heart failure and inhibition of some catabolic / vasoconstrictor hormones improves prognosis. We aimed to study the direct vascular effects of testosterone resistance arteries from men with heart failure.Methods6 resistance arteries w...

Background. Males with coronary disease have lower levels of endogenous testosterone than unaffected males. It is not known if low testosterone is a cause, effect or an epi-phenomenon of ischaemic heart disease.We hypothesised that androgen deficient men treated surgically with complete resolution of their symptoms would have a higher subsequent testosterone than men with persistent angina.Methods. Subjects were recruited after angiography. All subjects were biochemically ...

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is associated with maladaptive and prolonged neurohormonal and pro-inflammatory cytokine activation causing a metabolic shift favouring catabolism, vasodilator incapacity, and loss of skeletal muscle bulk and function. In men, androgens are important determinants of anabolic function and physical strength and also possess anti-inflammatory and vasodilatory properties. We conducted a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial of testosterone ...

Testosterone has immune-modulating properties and current in-vitro evidence suggests that testosterone may suppress the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines Tumour Necrosis Factor (TNF alpha), interleukin (IL)-1 beta and IL-6 and potentiate the expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. We report a randomised single-blind placebo-controlled crossover study of testosterone replacement (Sustanon 100) versus placebo in 27 men (age 62+-9years) with symptomatic and...