Endocrine Abstracts

The full-length retinoblastoma interacting zinc-finger protein (RIZ), codified by ten exons, has tumour suppressive and differentiating properties and is known to be a downstream effector in classical oestrogen target tissue. In many normal and malignant tissues alternative splicing isoforms, RIZ1 and RIZ2, frame-shift mutations and/or exon deletions have been found, but their oncogenic role is still debated. Although the presence of RIZ1 in the testis has been described, in g...

Introduction: The presence of truncated variant of somatostatin receptors (SSTR) has been demonstrated in pituitary tumours. These variants seems act as dominant negative of SSTR and induce the resistance to SST analogue (SSTA) treatment. A variant of SSTR5, sst5TMD4, has been found to disrupt SST signalling in breast cancer cells. In present study, we assayed the expression of sst5TMD4 in two non-transformed epithelial prostate cell lines (EPC): EPN, derived from a normal sur...

Prokineticin 1 (Prok1), the product of EGVEGF/PROK 1 gene, acts through two G-coupled receptors (PKR1 and PKR2) and is involved in a wide spectrum of actions, including tumorigenesis. Increased Prok1 expression has been found in prostate hyperplasia and cancer, suggesting a role in prostate cancer and BPH. Aim of this study was to elucidate the role of Prok1 on prostate cell function and growth. We evaluated the effects of Prok1 on epithelial prostate cell (PC) migration and p...

Context: Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH), is a rare disorder associated with severe testosterone deficiency and with impaired bone mineral mass (BMM) acquisition and osteoporosis. Estradiol (E2) play a major role in bone development and maintain in BMM in humans.Objective: To evaluate in detail the degree of E2 deficiency in adult men with CHH.Design and patients: Using a sensitive E2...

Insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3) is produced by Leydig cells. In boys, the levels of INSL3 rise at pubertal stage P2 and further increase throughout puberty in close correlation with T and LH concentrations. In men with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) INSL3 levels have been found very low and increased after short-term hCG treatment. Whether FSH plays a role in regulating INSL3 secretion is questioned. Aim of this study was to evaluate serum INSL3 levels during long-term hCG a...

Prokineticins (PK1 and PK2) are peptides regulating multiple biological processes through two G-protein coupled receptors, PK-R1 and PK-R2. PK2/PKR2 signalling is critical for neurogenesis of olfactory bulb and GnRH migration. Mutant mice lacking PKR2 have abnormal development of olfactory bulb and reproductive system atrophy, suggesting that these genes may be novel candidate for Kallmann syndrome (KS) in humans. Recently, mutations in PK2 and PKR2 genes have been found in ne...

Antipituitary antibodies (APA) are frequently present in patients with autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome (APS) but their role in predicting autoimmune hypophysitis (LYH) is still discussed.To evaluate the predictive value of APA investigated by immunofluorescence for the occurrence of pituitary autoimmune dysfunction when considering together some methodological characteristics as immunostaining pattern and antibody titers, we studied 149 APA positive an...

The regulation of insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3) secretion from Leydig cells is still incompletely clarified. In this study we measured INSL3 serum levels in transsexual men under estrogen (E) and antiandrogen therapy or after orchiectomy. The effects of gonadotropins on testicular secretion in vitro was also evaluated.Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 14 transsexual men under long-term E (n=5) or E plus cyproterone acetate (E+CPA, <...

Raloxifene (RAL) is a selective estrogen receptor (ER) modulator (SERM) proposed for chemoprevention of breast cancer and osteoporosis. SERMs exert agonist–antagonist effects depending on tissue or ERs expressed. RAL induces apoptosis in both androgen-dependent and independent cell lines, suggesting a selective activation of ERβ and prevalent antagonist effect on ERα in prostate cells (PC). In this study we evaluated effects of estradiol (E2) and RAL on epitheli...