Endocrine Abstracts

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs), mainly gonadotroph pituitary adenomas (GPAs), are the second most common type of PAs. Given the lack of symptoms secondary to hormone hypersecretion, NFPAs are often diagnosed when they cause mass effects. At this stage they are invasive (50% of cases), they cannot be completely resected and often recur. Despite their frequency, no standard of care drug treatment currently exists for these tumors. SSAs (somatostatin agonists) like oc...

Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is rapidly becoming a major aetiology for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, the most common liver cancer) in the context of chronic liver disease. Current therapeutical options for MAFLD (dietetic/lifestyle intervention and/or pharmacological approaches) are still insufficient and the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this disease are yet to be fully understood. Our group previously reported that the n...

Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a growing cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCCs); however, the molecular characteristics of MAFLD-derived HCCs are still to be elucidated. To provide novel insights in this field, we performed the first quantitative proteomic analysis of HCC samples from different aetiologies. Particularly, cytosolic and nuclear proteome of liver tissues from HCC patients (n=42; HCC vs adjacent tissue) and healthy contr...

Objectives: Previous studies have shown that metformin can reduce high-fat diet (HFD)-induced body weight gain and fat accumulation in the liver. However, the results obtained in animal models regarding the implication of metformin in the modulation of other whole-body and tissue-specific parameters, are controversial or need to be further explored. Consequently, we aimed to explore the capacity of metformin in modulating glucose/insulin metabolism, liver function, adiposity, ...

Obesity (OB) is caused by an energy imbalance that finally leads to adipose tissue dysfunction, and the appearance of multiple comorbidities, such as certain cancer types, including prostate cancer (PCa), which is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in men population worldwide. In this context, periprostatic adipose tissue (PPAT) has recently gained increased attention as a key regulator of the pathophysiological relationship between OB and PCa. However, it has b...

Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are mostly benign lesions originating from the anterior pituitary and represent 10–15% of all the intracranial neoplasms. PitNETs can be classified in non-secretory, clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs), and secretory, comprising prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH) and adrenocoticotropic hormone (ACTH) PitNETs. Surgical resection is the first line treatment for PitNETs, whereas chemotherapy and radiotherapy are p...

A growing number of studies suggest that extracellular fragments derived from plasma membrane receptors can play relevant functional roles in the development and progression of certain tumoral pathologies which might, therefore, serve as novel tools in the diagnostic and prognostic of such pathologies. In this scenario, the truncated somatostatin receptor sst5TMD4, which is overexpressed in various endocrine-related cancers (i.e. breast, prostate, neuroendocrine, liver and pit...

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and type-2 diabetes (T2D) development is critically affected by the loss of phenotypic flexibility (i.e. the difficulty to cope with stressors to maintain metabolic homeostasis). Thus, it is essential to identify key modifiers of phenotypic plasticity that define individual susceptibility to develop T2D. Particularly, there is emerging evidence that alternative mRNA splicing is dysregulated under adverse metabolic-conditions, such as T2D, in several t...

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are uncommon neoplasms with increasing incidence and limited therapeutic options, wherein identification of new diagnostic/prognostic/therapeutic biomarkers is urgently required. Alterations in somatostatin (SST)/cortistatin (CORT) and ghrelin systems have been associated to development/progression of several cancers. Thus, we evaluated expression levels of SST/CORT/ghrelin system components in gastroenteropancreatic-neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs...

Pituitary adenomas (PA) comprise a commonly underestimated pathology in terms of incidence and associated morbimortality. Somatostatin and dopamine analogs constitute the main medical treatment for PA. However, an appreciable subset of patients are resistant or poorly responsive to these drugs, and hence, the search for new therapies to control tumor growth and/or hormone secretion is crucial. Biguanides such as metformin (MF; commonly used to treat type-2 diabetes), phenformi...