Endocrine Abstracts

Background: As a trace element selenium (Se) is essential for man and animals, in particular for the maintenance of spermatogenesis and male fertility. A growing number of evidence shows that Se is necessary for testosterone synthesis, and inappropriate concentration, Se can stimulate Leydig cell proliferation. However, Se can also act as a metalloestrogen, which can mimic estrogen and activate the estrogen receptors. In higher concentrations, Se might have an adverse effect o...

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase γ (PI3Kγ) is key to inflammation, allergy, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease.1 PI3Kγ is a drug target in chronic inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis,2 atherosclerosis3 and allergic responses.4,5 Localized, PI3Kγ-mediated PtdIns (3,4,5)P3 production5, and a distinct role of Ras selectively activating the p84–PI3Kγ-complex, can modulate PI3Kγ...

Pituitary tumours are usually benign, but aggressive local growth may occur. Malignancy with demonstrable extracranial metastases is rarely seen. Tumour formation is probably the result of genetic changes involving tumour suppressor gene inactivation and oncogene activation. Pituitary adenomas that occur in a familial setting account for 4–5% of the tumours, they can be part of endocrine-related tumour syndromes. In 2006, Vierimaa et al.1 reported the re...

A-M Colao, University Federico II of Naples, Naples, Italy. AbstractDr Annamaria Colao has been involved in clinical laboratory research since 1980 as a student in Medicine. At that time, she entered into the study group of hypothalamus-pituitary tumours and was mentored by Dr Gaetano Lombardi. Since that time, her publications and research have focused on pituitary tumours, especially prolactinomas and acromegaly. Bes...

The greatly improved survival of children and adolescents with malignancy now makes it important to assess the long-term adverse effects of cancer therapy. Loss of fertility is reported by cancer survivors to be a major concern. In women, this largely relates to gonadotoxicity of chemotherapy or local radiotherapy; uterine damage is less common and follows pelvic surgery or radiotherapy. All chemotherapeutic agents are gonadotoxic, but particularly the alkylating agents such a...

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.<...

ObjectiveThe aim of this investigation is to study the redox status of osteoblasts in response to glucose and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and their response to minocycline, in a simulated diabetogenic model, using the steroid marker 5 alpha- dihydrotestosterone (DHT)MethodMonolayer cultures of MG63 osteoblasts were established in Eagle’s MEM incubated for 24 h with radiolabelled testosterone, effe...

ObjectiveThis study investigates the oxidative effects of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and glucose (G) in a cell culture model of osteoblasts and the modifying role of minocycline (M), using a steroid marker of wound healing (5 alpha- dihydrotestosterone: DHT). This model simulates chronic inflammation and hyperglycaemia, relevant to chronic inflammatory periodontal disease in uncontrolled diabetics and prospects of adjunctive management, using min...

Introduction: Both GH and IGF1 have important effects on the heart mass and contractility and deficiency of either hormone is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. GH/IGF1 axis abnormalities (mostly primary or secondary IGF1-D) are frequent in adult patients with β-thalassemia major (β-Thal). IGF1-D could therefore contribute with iron overload to the heart’s damage of β-Thal patients, but this question has been little investigat...

Neuroendocrine molecules play a significant role in the progression of human prostate cancer (PCa) and its neuroendocrine differentiation has been associated to a worse prognosis. Among these molecules, the pleiotropic peptide neuropeptide Y (NPY) was found to be expressed in the human prostate and may show some relevance in PCa progression. In this study, we evaluated the direct effect of NPY on the growth of the human PCa cell lines LNCaP (androgen dependent) and DU145 and P...