Endocrine Abstracts

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element and is important for maintaining health and preventing disease. Se exhibits its biological function as the 21st proteinogenic amino acid selenocysteine (Sec). Different cis and trans acting factors are necessary for incorporation of Sec into proteins. Se can be transported and stored as Sec in selenoprotein P (SePP), a liver-derived protein which contains up to 10 Sec residues per protein in humans. Thus, SePP functions...

GH receptor stimulation changes intracellular protein phosphorylation and activates the JAK-STAT signalling pathway. The JAK2 - STAT5 components of this pathway seem critical for growth. Factors of essence for cellular effects of GH include the duration of GH receptor stimulation and in different species there are sex differences in GH secretion where males have an episodic and females have a more continuous mode of GH secretion. At the cellular level, these two types of GH se...

Introduction: Diabetes is a chronic condition causing morbidity and mortality globally, with a growing economic burden on healthcare systems. In the UK, 1 in 14 people have diabetes, with type 2 accounting for 90% of cases (1). Complications from poorly controlled diabetes are associated with increased socioeconomic costs and a reduced quality of life. Research has shown education and self-management are crucial in helping diabetic patients achieve metabolic control (1). Smart...

Introduction: Melatonin is a crucial hormone for controlling sleep rhythms and disruption of its natural secretory rhythmicity is considered to be one of the causes of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The MTNR1B gene encodes the melatonin receptor. Polymorphism rs10830963 in this gene shows an association with fasting blood glucose and impaired glucose tolerance. Current studies suggest that carriers of the minor allele G have a slightly shifted cycle of melatonin secretion toward a ...

Hereditary genetic variants are common among patients with endocrine tumours. Some specific clinical conditions are informative for certain monogenic syndromes (i.e., Carney complex, MEN1, MEN2, von Hippel Lindau syndrome) but manifestations characteristic for these syndromes occur more commonly as apparently sporadic. Other tumours, i.e., pheochromocytoma/paragangliomas (PPGL) are linked to multiple genes, hence a multigene approach in molecular genetic testing strategy is re...

: Hydroxysteroid (17beta) dehydrogenase 1 (Hsd17b1) is a steroidogenic enzyme catalyzing the conversion of estrone (E1) to estradiol (E2), and androstenedione (A-dione) to testosterone (T). We have shown that the deletion of Hsd17b1 gene in mice resulted in the failure of ovarian estrogen production and subfertility. In this study, we clarified the role of Hsd17b1 in male reproduction. The data revealed that in mice Hsd17b1 mRNA is highly expressed in the Sertoli cells at the ...

Steroid hormones and bile acids are potent regulators of metabolic phenotype. The enzyme 5β-Reductase (AKR1D1) has a crucial role in bile acid synthesis and also generates 5β-reduced dihydrosteroid metabolites, regulating intra-cellular steroid availability though the clearance of cortisol, testosterone, androstenedione and progesterone. As AKR1D1 sits at the interface of bile acid synthesis and steroid metabolism, we have hypothesised that it plays a key role in met...

Steroid hormones and bile acids are potent regulators of metabolic phenotype. The enzyme 5β-reductase (AKR1D1) has a crucial role in bile acid synthesis and also generates 5β-reduced dihydrosteroid metabolites, regulating intra-cellular steroid availability though the clearance of cortisol, testosterone, androstenedione, and progesterone. As AKR1D1 sits at the interface of bile acid synthesis and steroid metabolism, we have hypothesised that it plays a key role in me...

Stressful experiences produce profound physiological and behavioural disturbances that may contribute to many psychiatric disorders. Stress activates HPA axis whose end products glucocorticoids modulate immune cells and cytokine activity. Local effect of glucocorticoids depends not only on its concentration but also on the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11HSD1), which amplifies intracellular glucocorticoid concentration by the conversion of inactive 11-de...

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an effective technique for the treatment of symptomatic benign thyroid nodules. It is not known to what extent RFA may affect thyroid surgery and/or histological diagnosis.Materials and methods: patients were treated with RFA and then followed for 2 years. RFA was performed on 64 symptomatic Thy2 nodules and on six symptomatic Thy3 nodules, without atypical cells nor BRAF or NRAS mutations, in surgically high-...