Endocrine Abstracts

Inhibins and activins were discovered based on their abilities to inhibit and stimulate follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) secretion from pituitary gonadotrope cells. These ligands are members of the TGFbeta superfamily of secreted ligands. Current dogma suggests that activin B produced by gonadotropes stimulates FSH production in an autocrine/paracrine manner. Inhibins A and B from the gonads suppress FSH by competing for binding to activin receptors. This binding is aided by...

The brain regulates food intake by processing sensory cues and peripheral physiological signals. Recently, we have gained an increased understanding of the neural networks that regulate food intake. However, understanding how nutrients and post-ingestive signals regulate the activity of hunger-sensitive neurons remains an important question. To understand the neural control of food intake, we monitor the activity of hunger-sensitive neural populations in the awake behaving ani...

Transcriptional activity of androgen receptor (AR) is governed by androgenic ligands and (thought to be) fine-tuned by post-translational modifications, such as SUMOylation. We have utilized genome-wide tools to study in an unbiased fashion the role of SUMOylation in the regulation of AR-directed gene programs in prostate cancer cells. Our results show that the SUMOylation does not simply repress the AR activity, but the modification modulates the receptor activity in a target...

Transthyretin (TTR) is a plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-circulating protein. Besides the primordially attributed systemic role as transporter molecule of thyroxine (T4) and retinol (through the binding to retinol-binding protein (RBP)), TTR has been recognised as a protein with important functions in several aspects of the nervous system physiology. TTR has been shown to play an important role in behaviour, cognition, amidated neuropeptide processing, and nerv...

Background: Turner’s syndrome is the most common sex chromosome abnormality in females resulting from a 45,X cell line. A mosaic chromosomal complement (e.g. 45,X/46,XX) is detectable in over half of all patients with Turner’s. Characteristically girls with Turner syndrome have a short stature attributable to the presence of SHOX (short stature homeobox-containing gene on the X chromosome) gene. Most affected women have no pubertal development and primary am...

The study of rare bone diseases has fundamentally informed our understanding of bone biology and led to the development of novel therapies in common diseases such as osteoporosis. The 100,000 Genomes Project is a landmark enterprise of whole-genome sequencing and included rare musculoskeletal disorders. This presentation will describe how studies of Van Buchem disease, hypophosphataemia and Osteogenesis Imperfecta have informed bone biology as well as the current research oppo...

In the 60 years since primary aldosteronism (PA) was described, our understanding of its pathophysiology and approaches to diagnosis and treatment has improved remarkably. Despite this progress, <1% of patients with PA are ever screened for this condition, which accounts for 5–8% of hypertension (HTN). The resistance to screening for PA probably derives primarily from the complexities and uncertainties inherent in its evaluation and management. How many types of PA ex...

Dr Richard J Auchus is Professor of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes at the University of Michigan and Director of the Diabetes, Endocrinology, & Metabolism Fellowship Program at Michigan. He did postdoctoral work and training at the University of California, San Francisco prior to joining the faculty at UT Southwestern in Dallas. He served as Acting Chi...

The artificial pancreas or closed loop is the holy grail of diabetes technology. The concept has been around for decennia, but only as more or less accurate continuous glucose monitors became available some 10–15 years ago, patient related research could be initiated. The essential problem is the inherent delays in the loop. Insulin absorption, glucose uptake by the cell after activation of the insulin receptor and continuous glucose monitoring all take time. Once adminis...

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