Endocrine Abstracts

We present the case of a 58-year-old woman who presented 30 years ago. She was noted to have abdominal obesity, moon-face and skin bruising/thinning, as well as hypertension. Serum cortisol was elevated and she was presumed to have Cushing’s disease (although we have no record of dynamic tests or imaging from the time of her original presentation). Owing to her desire for future fertility, she underwent bilateral adrenalectomy at the age of 31 years. She received hydrocor...

The aim of this audit was to assess the efficacy of vitamin D replacement therapies (oral Ergocalciferol D2 and Cholecalciferol D3) on serum Vitamin D (25(OH)D), when dispensed to endocrine outpatients. After exclusions, clinic records of 54 patients were analysed for pre- and post dosage serum 25(OH)D levels, PTH levels, total dosage given, and duration of replacement. Results: Mean total dose of D2 (n=24) was 350,000 (IU) against D3 (n=30) 305,000 (IU), with av...

Background: Serum biomarkers which correlate with pituitary tumour growth would be valuable in the treatment and follow-up of patients with pituitary adenomas, particularly non-functioning adenomas. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) mRNA is upregulated in almost all tumours, whereas matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 (MMP 2 and 9) have been demonstrated to be important in tumour vascularisation and invasion, particularly in prolactinomas.Aim: The ...

Objectives: Visfatin and monocyte-chemoattractant-protein-1 (MCP-1) are elevated in cardiovascular pathologies, insulin-resistant and dysmetabolic states. Visfatin has been reported to exhibit pro-angiogenic actions in human endothelial cells by the induction of endothelial gelatinases and VEGF. Given MCP-1’s well described pro-angiogenic properties we sought to study the potential interaction between visfatin, MCP-1 and VEGF in human endothelial cells. More importantly, ...

PBEF/Visfatin is an adipokine highly enriched in adipose tissue which is increased in obesity and has been shown to be involved in numerous physiological processes. The adrenal gland plays a pivotal role in the integration of metabolic activity and energy balance, through production of steroids, mainly glucocorticoids. Steroidogenesis is a tightly controlled and essential process, which is mediated by steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), a protein that transports cho...

Orexin-A and orexin-B orchestrate their diverse central and peripheral effects via two G-protein coupled receptors, orexin-1 receptor (OX1R) and OX2R, which activate multiple G-proteins. In many tissues, orexins activate MAPKs, however, the mechanism by which OX2R alone mediates MAPK activation is not understood. We studied the intracellular signaling mechanisms involved in OX2R-mediated ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK activation. In HEK-293 cells stably over-expressing recombi...

Aim: Cardiovascular disease is more common in individuals with diabetes mellitus and obesity. Visfatin is elevated in obesity and T2DM; and thought to be an inflammatory mediator within atherosclerotic lesions inducing gelatinase activity, contributing to plaque destabilisation. We investigated the activation of NF-κB, a well-known pro-inflammatory transcription factor, by visfatin, in Human Endothelial Cells (EC).Research design and methods: We sta...

Introduction: Leptin and adiponectin have opposing properties and are implicated as molecular mediators between obesity and (aggressive) prostate cancer. Adiponectin, circulates inversely proportional to visceral fat accumulation, and has demonstrated anti-proliferative effects in prostate cancer cells; circulating leptin levels increase with visceral fat accumulation and has shown mitogenic effects. We propose that adiponectin and leptin interact in prostate cancer cell growt...

Introduction: Visfatin/PBEF is a novel adipokine circulating inversely proportional to visceral fat mass and exerts insulin-mimetic effects; it is expressed in normal, inflamed and tumour tissues. Visfatin/PBEF has also been identified as NMPRTase, a key intracellular enzyme involved in NAD+ metabolism, replenishing NAD+ during cellular respiration. Inhibition of NMPRTase by the anti-cancer agent FK866 has been shown to induce apoptosis in tumours. Prosta...

Background: Excess adipose tissue accumulation and obesity are characterised by a chronic, low-grade, systemic inflammation that contributes to obesity-related cardio-metabolic disease. Nestfatin-1 is a neuropeptide derived from the precursor protein nucleobindin-2 (NUCB2), which was initially reported to exert anorexigenic effects. We have previously shown that NUCB2/Nesfatin-1 is highly expressed in human and mouse subcutaneous white adipose tissue (Sc-WAT) and that circulat...