Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction. We have previously used a synthetic phage display library to derive single chain (ScAbs) antibodies which bind GnSAF bioactivity in-vitro. However, recovery of GnSAF using the ScAbs, which tended to aggregate and become unstable, was limited. We have therefore engineered these ScAbs into full-length human IgG forms.Methods. CDR regions from soluble expression plasmids for two different GnSAF-recognising ScAbs were amplified by PCR. Two uni...

Background: Surgery is the preferred method of treatment for most pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs), particularly functional PNETs or those greater than 2 cm in largest dimension. Existing techniques include intraoperative ultrasound and manual palpation, both of which have inherent disadvantages such as poor resolution and low contrast against normal pancreatic tissue. This results in surgeons performing more demolitive resections, such as the Whipple procedure, when t...

Ageing is associated with sarcopenia, osteoporosis and an increased risk of falling, which together contribute to increased fracture risk. There are few data describing the associations between functional measures of muscle and bone during ageing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine in ageing men associations between measures of lower-limb muscle strength and age and then to investigate the relationships with tibial bone outcomes.Men (n</...

Context: Androgen excess, obesity and hyperinsulinaemia are the cardinal features of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). While several studies have addressed the relationship between androgen excess and hyperinsulinaemia, the link between androgen excess and fat distribution remains largely undefined. Recent work has highlighted the importance of adipose tissue as an organ of androgen activation. Here, we evaluated the relationship between visceral fat and androgen excess in w...

This study aimed at searching for malignancy in a group of 2300 patients with incidentally found adrenal tumours (1688 women and 612 men aged 11-87 years) registered at our Department of Endocrinology. The methods of investigation included clinical and imaging studies, hormonal assays and pathomorphological examinations in the patients treated by surgery. In 168 patients, aged 11 to 81 years, adrenocortical cancer was diagnosed ranging in diameter from 2.5 to 25.0 cm. In 7 pat...

Cancer cells have shown an overexpressed fructose transporter GLUT5 and preferential utilization of fructose as compared to glucose, implicating that a fructose-based analogue would be a useful target for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. We have successfully synthesized the fructose conjugated-gefitinib compounds {N-[4-(3-chloro-4-(3-fluorobenzyloxy)phenylamino)-7-methoxy-quinazolin-6-yl]-4- [N-methyl-N-(1-deoxy-1-fructosyl)]aminobutanamide}, and examined its antitumor effic...

Introduction: In case of inoperable disease or tumor recurrence, therapy with mitotane (MIT), sometimes in combination with doxorubicin (DOX), etoposide (ETO), cisplatin (CIS) or streptozocin (STREP), is frequently applied in patients with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). The multidrug resistance pump MDR1 is responsible for resistance of tumor cells to cytostatic drugs. The activity of MDR1 is inhibited by the calcium-channel blocker verapamil. There are equivocal data in the ...

Objectives: To investigate whether there is a sex difference in serum leptin concentration in Chinese Type 2 diabetic patients with and without nephropathy.Methods: Early morning fasting serum leptin concentrations were measured in 34 Type 2 diabetic patients (mean age 62.1) with nephropathy (creatinine 120-450micromol/l and spot urinary albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) > 25 mg/mmol), 12 newly diagnosed diabetic subjects (mean age 62.5) with normoalbumi...

Most tests of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) use total cortisol measurements, although only free cortisol is biologically active. Total cortisol is 90% bound to cortisol binding globulin (CBG). CBG varies between individuals, is elevated by oestrogens and reduced by acute illness or surgery. Low CBG levels may result in individuals apparently failing such tests, and receiving inappropriate steroid replacement. We hypothesised that correcting total cortisol for CB...

Objective: Three nonsynonomous SNPs, Arg16Gly, Gln27Glu and Thr164Ile, in the coding region of the ADRB2 gene affect either receptor affinity or trafficking. Their distribution has been shown to differ significantly in hypertension. We investigated the association of these loci with hypertension in the Silesian Hypertension Study.Methods: Following local ethics approval, 274 unrelated Polish subjects consisting of 146 hypertensives and 128 normotensives ...