Endocrine Abstracts

Tumor heterogeneity affects diagnosis, prognosis and response to therapy. Heterogeneity is found in both normal and neoplastic human mammary gland. For example, luminal estrogen receptor (ER)-negative cells can give rise to various phenotypes, including ER-negative and ER-positive mammary tumors, suggesting that the cell-of-origin does not necessarily reflect the tumor type. Regarding ER status, heterogeneity can challenge endocrine therapies; elimination of responsive clones ...

Background: Gigantism and acromegaly are the main consequences of GH excess, mainly due to a pituitary adenoma. Surgery is the first therapeutic option, but also medical therapy is employed, being represented mostly by somatostatin analogues (SSA), that reduce both tumour mass and GH hypersecretion. However about 10% of patients is resistant to SSA.PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, activated by growth-factors such as IGF1, is important in regulating many cellular p...

Kinases represent a main therapeutic targets in cancer treatment as their impairing is related to tumor growth and progression. Despite the increasing evidence that tumor microenvironment (TME) signaling influences the behavior of surrounding cancer epithelial cells, still little is known about what changes in stromal cells influence tumor cells’ behavior. TNBC patients are still lacking an effective therapy, as not much is known about the biology of this BC tumor subtype...

Introduction: Broncho-Pulmonary Neoplasms (BP-NENs) are rare neoplasms arising from neuroendocrine cells of the respiratory epithelium. Since previous studies in our lab have demonstrated the efficacy ofEverolimus, approved for BP-NENs treatment, and Dinaciclib, a Cyclins and CdKs inhibitor, on monolayer system we have investigated if a more complex tumour system could generate a change in drugs effects and cell resistance. Therefore, through the use of 3D culture model, we ha...

Background: Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (pNENs) are malignancies arising from the endocrine pancreas. Past in vitro studies have led to a better comprehension and characterization of this malignancy under several points of view. However, effective medical therapies are still not available, therefore, it is essential to continue studying this malignancy in order to identify a successful approach. Due to tumour complexity, techniques such as 3D cultures, able to...

: Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (pNETs) are rare neoplasms arising from the endocrine pancreas. The fist line treatment is surgery that is often not curative in the presence of metastatic disease. Therefore, there is an increasing need for medical therapy. Sunitinib is a multi-target receptor tyrosine-kinase (RTK) inhibitor, described as having as main target VEGF receptor, with antitumor and antiangiogenic effects, approved for pNETs medical treatment. This study is aimed...

Finding new preclinical models to study the effects of anticancer drugs is one of the aims of biomedical research. Indeed, testing different in vitro systems can lead to a better understanding of the molecular pathways regulating tumor development and growth, and help to find new therapeutic approaches. This is crucial especially in the settings of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (pNET), where one of the main drugs approved for medical treatment is Sunitinib, a mult...

Background: Surgery is the main therapeutic option for advanced endometrial cancer; however, when disease relapses, chemotherapy is the only option. Chemoresistance is a very common phenomenon in these tumors. We previously demonstrated that GH protects breast cancer cells towards the cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin, inducing chemoresistance. Recent evidences show that endometrial cancer cells secrete GH, stimulating their own growth in an autocrine fashion.<p class="abst...

Background: Bronchial carcinoids (BC) are still orphan of medical therapy. We previously demonstrated that the typical BC human cell line NCI-H727 is sensitive to Everolimus, in terms of cell viability reduction, while the atypical human BC cell line NCI-H720 is not. However, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have not been fully clarified.Aim: The aim of our study is to investigate the mechanisms of resistance to mTOR inhibitors in BC cells.<...

Adrenocortical cancer (ACC) is a rare and aggressive malignancy. Currently the main therapeutic option is surgery, but due to difficult and delayed diagnosis and to the onset of metastases, medical therapy is often tried. ACC treatment is mainly represented by Mitotane alone or in association with chemotherapy, with variable results. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate ACC proliferation could be useful to identify new therapeutic options. Aim of our study is t...