Endocrine Abstracts

In the context of the cross-talk between the neuroendocrine and immune systems, it is well known that GH exerts physiological effects in central as well as peripheral compartments of the immune system. GH modulates a variety of thymic functions. For example, GH upregulates proliferation of thymocytes and thymic epithelial cells. Accordingly, GH-transgenic mice, as well as animals and humans treated with exogenous GH, exhibit an enhanced cellularity in the organ. GH also stimul...

The NOD (non-obese diabetic) mouse remains the best experimental model of type I diabetes. We have previously described several thymic dysfunctions in these animals, including the presence of giant perivascular spaces (PVS) with arrest of mature T cells (including Treg cells) and partial impairment on fibronectin/VLA-5-dependent NOD thymocyte migration. Herein, we further studied the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) ligands, alone or in combination with the chemokine CXCL12 ...