Endocrine Abstracts

Together with Profs Lefkowitz and Kobilka, G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have taken the stage in the 2012 Nobel award for Chemistry. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences states that ‘About half of all medications achieve their effect through G-protein-coupled receptors’. As shown in previous talks in this session, GPCRs are not acting individually; often they form homodimers and, more interestingly, they may occur as heterodimers. Heteromers open a completely ...

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a chronic diabetic complication occurring in most diabetic patients after 20 years of disease. Progression of DR to its sight threatening stages is usually associated with worsening of underlying retinal vascular dysfunction and disease. The plasma kallikrein kinin system is activated during vascular injury, mediating important functions in inflammation, blood flow, and coagulation. Bradykinin B1 receptor (B1R) is expressed in human ret...

Dopamine receptor type 2 (DRD2) agonists (DA) are the first-choice treatment for prolactin (PRL)-secreting pituitary tumors, but poorly effective in non-functioning (NF)-PitNETs. Along with G protein-dependent signaling, DRD2 also mediates non-canonical beta-arrestin-dependent pathways, where reduction of AKT phosphorylation plays a leading role for the antiproliferative effect of DRD2 in pituitary tumors. Through UNC9994 and MLS1547, a beta-arrestin 2-biased and a G protein-b...

Introduction: Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is a rare but well-known cause of acute pancreatitis, which can be fatal with an overall mortality rate of 36-50% in the most severe forms.Case presentation: A 29-year-old patient was admitted to the emergency department with abdominal pain, bilious vomiting and alteration of general condition. Physical examination showed hemodynamic shock with diffuse abdominal tenderness. The Laboratory results showed a serum li...

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute the major family of cell surface receptors. They comprise receptors for light, taste and smell as well as ions, small transmitters, peptides and large protein hormones. Given their involvement in fundamental biological processes and their accessibility, GPCRs serve as targets for many classes of drugs, including beta-blockers, antihistamines and opiates.Whereas many biochemical steps involved in GPCR signali...

The G protein subunit α-gustducin is generally accepted as a marker for chemosensitive cells. Since chemosensation is especially important for the navigation of sperm towards the egg, attempts were made to explore whether α-gustducin might also be expressed in spermatozoa. RT-PCR experiments revealed that a gustducin PCR specific RNA fragment with the predicted size could be amplified from total mouse and rat testis. To identify the testicular cell type in which &#94...

Background and aims: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is an important chronic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), and is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults. Although several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been associated with DR, more information is needed to unravel the genetics of this complex disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate expression of at least 60% of all protein-coding genes. A number of miRNAs ha...

Membrane trafficking of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) is a critical mechanism by which cells mediate complex signaling pathways. Endosomes are increasingly recognized as platforms for GPCR signaling. The VEE was first identified using the LHR, a GPCR that is key in reproduction. We have shown that recycling of the LHR is driven by receptor mediated Gαs cAMP signaling from the VEE and PKA-dependent phosphorylation of the adaptor protein, APPL1, while APPL1 negatively...

Reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton could coincide with the activation of several seven transmembrane receptors (7TM receptors) (1). Stimulation of Rho family members leads to rapid remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton and subsequent stress fiber formation and certain 7TM receptors were shown to induce Rho-dependent responses via heterotrimeric G-proteins. Gα12, Gα13 as well as Gαq/11 can link 7TM receptors to RhoA activatio...

Aim: To assess the association of the endothelial dysfunction (ED) parameters and the lipid-lowering response to atorvastatin therapy in patients with T2D with genetic markers of inflammation.Methods: We include 97 T2D patients with first prescribed atorvastatin 10–20 mg: M/F 26/71; mean age 57 years. After 12 month of statin therapy, patients had fasting lipid profiles and ED parameters repeated. For ED evaluation, we performed pulse wave analysis ...