Endocrine Abstracts

Metformin has recently emerged as a potential therapeutic tool for different tumour pathologies, including prostate cancer (PCa)1, one of the leading causes of cancer-deaths in men worldwide. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the antitumor effects of metformin in PCa are not fully elucidated. In this context, previous reports have suggested a relationship between metformin and the process of alternative splicing in some cell-types. Nevertheless, the poten...

omatostatin, originally isolated from ovine hypothalami in 1973, and cortistatin, identified a decade ago in amphibians and then in human and rodents, are two highly related peptides thought to derive from a common ancestor gene. Owing to their high structural homology, both peptides bind with similar affinity to the five so-called somatostatin receptors (sst1-sst5), and exert virtually undistinguishable effects on several physiological targets, including inhibition of endocri...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common tumor pathology in men worldwide. The medical treatments currently used as first-line therapy after surgery are anti-androgens like abiraterone or enzalutamide, which, unfortunately, fail to stop the disease in a high percentage of cases, resulting in progression towards aggressive castration-resistant PCa. Therefore, new therapeutic tools to manage PCa are urgently needed. Biguanides and statins, two types of drugs commonly used in met...

The somatostatin receptor 5 (sst5) and its truncated splicing variants (sst5TMD5, sst5TMD4) are considered putative biomarkers that can predict pharmacological response or aggressiveness in several endocrine-related pathologies, such as acromegaly. sst5 is encoded by a gene, SSTR5, that lacks introns within its coding sequence, and hence, the splicing variants identified are generated by non-canonical splicing events. However, the mechanisms underlying their genesis a...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a complex and heterogeneous cancer that progresses from slow-growing, tissue-confined lesions, to highly aggressive and metastatic forms. Among the different processes involved in this progression, dysregulation of the alternative splicing mechanism, and, particularly, the generation of the spliced androgen receptor variant-7 (ARv7), plays a critical role in the pharmacological resistance of PCa patients (i.e. Abiraterone or Enzalutamide). In this cont...

Background: Somatostatin (SST)/Cortistatin (CORT) system is a complex hormonal axis involved in the progression of several tumor types. However, its role has not been explored in prostate cancer (PCa), one of the most common type among men.Objectives: We aimed to investigate the presence and the pathophysiological role of SST/CORT in PCa.Methods: We analysed functional parameters in response to SST and CORT and to CORT-silencing in...

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related deaths in men worldwide. Early detection of PCa faces severe limitations as PSA displays poor-specificity. Therefore, new diagnostic and therapeutic alternatives are urgently needed.Objectives: This work was aimed to investigate the miRNA landscape in PCa and explore their putative diagnostic/therapeutic utility.Methods: The miRNome of plasma sampl...

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis is based on the serum levels of prostatic specific antigen (PSA), which might be influenced by many clinical conditions, including obesity. In addition, the diagnostic capability of PSA test dramatically drops when considering patients with PSA levels lower than 10ng/mL (i.e. “grey-zone”). Therefore, the identification of more reliable non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for PCa is a critical unmet clinical need. In this sce...

Background: Glioblastomas (GBMs) remain the deadliest human brain tumors, with a poor prognosis despite years of research. Currently, standard therapeutic strategies to treat GBM are not efficient, and the overall survival is ˜14 months. Thus, the identification of new therapeutic tools to battle GBMs is crucial. In this sense, many metabolic drugs (e.g., metformin (MF) and simvastatin (SVT)) have emerged as putative antitumor agents for certain endocrine-related cancers,...

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease and is the leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. MASLD is rapidly becoming a major aetiology for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common liver cancer. As the incidence of MASLD continues to rise, it is crucial to understand the molecular alterations that lead to HCC. Previous studies have revealed a significant alterati...