Endocrine Abstracts

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most prevalent and most lethal primary brain endocrine-related cancer (ERC) in adults which, in addition to the late-stage diagnosis and the lack of effective novel therapies, results in the low quality of life of patients and the poor prognosis, with a median survival from 10 to 14 months after diagnosis. Accordingly, the identification of novel molecular biomarkers of diagnosis and/or prognosis, as well as therapeutic targets becomes crucial to comb...

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are heterogeneous neoplasms with a relatively low but increasing incidence, mainly due to the difficulty in diagnosing this disease in its early stages. This notably complicates the treatment of this pathology and leads to a poor prognosis. One of the main reasons for this problem is the lack of adequate diagnostic biomarkers as well as effective therapeutic targets. In this sense, there is still a limited knowledge about alternative ...

Craniopharyngiomas (CPs) are a relatively benign subtype of epithelial tumors that typically originate from the sellar and suprasellar regions of the brain. These endocrine tumors are classified as adamantinomatous (ACP) or papillary (PCP) based on their histological characteristics. Unfortunately, the diagnosis of CPs is frequently made at an advanced stage of tumor development, and therefore relevant associated comorbidities are often present. The first-line treatment is typ...

Dopamine receptor type 2 (DRD2) represents the main target for pharmacological therapy with dopamine agonists (DAs) in PRL-secreting neuroendocrine pituitary tumors (PRL-PitNET), even if about 10% of patients is resistant. A single paper recently described a somatic mutation in the gene encoding splicing factor 3B subunit 1 (SF3B1) in about 20% of patients with PRL-PitNET, that was associated with PRL hypersecretion, increased cell proliferation and invasion and reduced progre...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related deaths in men worldwide. Therefore, more specific non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers with potential therapeutic use are urgently needed. As miRNAs have been proposed as promising elements for the identification of novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools for different pathologies, including different cancer types, we investigated herein the miRNA landscape in PCa patients and explored their putative diagnos...

The intrinsic heterogeneity of endocrine-related cancers (ERCs) hampers the identification and development of global and effective therapeutic treatments for these pathologies. However, the dysregulation of the splicing process has been postulated as a new common hallmark shared by most cancer types, since it is associated with the appearance of splicing variants with oncogenic potential (e.g. CD44v6, BCL-Xs, AR-v7, SST5TMD4, In1-ghrelin...

Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) constitute approximately 15% of all intracranial tumors and comprise a varied type of neoplasms that, despite being rarely metastatic, can cause severe comorbidities and increased mortality related to the mass effects and hormonal hypersecretion. The high expression levels of somatostatin and dopamine receptors in these tumors has led to the use of somatostatin analogues (SSAs) and dopamine agonists (DAs) as pharmacological treatments....

Background: Pituitary adenomas represent a commonly underestimated pathology in terms of incidence and associated morbimortality. Additionally, some patients poorly respond or develop resistance to current medical treatments [i.e. somatostatin analogues (SSAs) and dopamine agonists]. In this context, it is necessary to develop novel and/or optimize currently available medical therapies. Biguanides (metformin, buformin and phenformin) are antidiabetic drugs that have been descr...

Chimeric somatostatin (SST)/dopamine (DA) compounds, termed dopastatins, such as BIM-23A760, an agonist for SST (sst2 and ss5) and DA (D2) receptors, are emerging as promising new approaches to treat pituitary adenomas. However, their actions and mechanisms on the different types of pituitary tumours are still incompletely understood. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyse a set of key functional parameters (signaling pathways, hormonal expression and secretion, cell viabi...

Pituitary adenomas comprise a heterogeneous group of tumours causing serious comorbidities, which would benefit from identification of novel, common molecular/cellular biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The ghrelin system comprises a complex molecular family with multiple functions, and some of its components have been linked to development of various endocrine-related cancers. In this work we aim at better delineating the patho-physiological significance of the ghrelin regul...