Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The GH/IGF-I axis has been implicated in the development of breast cancer. However the regulation of local expression of the GH/IGF-I axis in breast tissue is unknown. In vitro studies have suggested an inhibitory effect of ghrelin on the proliferation of breast cancer cell lines, although the mechanisms for this action are unknown.Aims: Using a physiologically relevant culture system for breast tissue explants, to investigate the effects of ...

Background: The clinical presentation of non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFAs) can range from an incidental finding on imaging to pituitary hormone deficiencies and visual compromise.Objective: To assess the clinical presentation of patients who had undergone surgical resection of histologically proven NFAs.Methods: Patients presenting to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, with non-functioning pituitary adenomas (histol...

Introduction: For the last 2 years we have been giving regular diabetes education sessions in conjunction with our hospital school, based around maths skills. These went well, but we wanted to develop these further, making them more patient centred. We gained a grant from the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation and designed a 4 day programme with ‘The Puppet Project’ and ‘WAC arts’. This was done very much in collabaration with our hospital school who...

Current therapies for locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer aim to inhibit androgen receptor (AR) activation directly or by depleting androgens via androgen deprivation therapy. However this therapeutic approach eventually fails in ~80% of patients, leading to development of castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). There are currently few therapeutic options available for CRPC with limited prognostic or predictive biomarkers. The aim of the current study was to dete...

A 35-year old female presented with a 5 day history of headache, diplopia and reduced visual acuity preceded by 6 months of lethargy and weight gain. Visual field testing revealed left temporal hemianopia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a benign pituitary adenoma with intra-tumoural haemorrhage compressing the optic chiasm. Neurosurgical opinion advised on transphenoidal surgery. However, in view of spontaneous resolution of diplopia and recovery of peripheral vision,...

Ghrelin is a brain-gut peptide originally identified in the stomach. It binds to and stimulates the growth hormone secretagogue receptor type 1a (GHS-R). The presence of ghrelin in hypothalamic tissue was studied. It has been previously established that neither the synthetic GHSs, nor the endogenous hormone ghrelin, is specific for GH stimulation: they generally also stimulate the HPA axis as well as prolactin release. Since there is no direct stimulatory effect on ACTH releas...

Background: Anecdotally patients with chronic pain on opioid analgesia have functional hypopituitarism, and studies in opioid addicts show suppressed pituitary function. We conducted a prospective observational study to determine the endocrine status of patients with chronic pain on opioid analgesia. Methods: 37 consecutive patients with chronic back pain attending the pain clinic were enrolled. 22 patients (age 45+/-9 years) were on long-term opioid analgesia and 15 (age 53 +...

We previously demonstrated that USP12 functions as an AR co-activator by directly deubiquitinating the AR and stabilising its protein levels. Additionally, we showed that USP12 targets the PHLPP AKT phosphatases leading to decreased levels of activated, phosphorylated AKT (pAKT) and as such indirectly stabilises the AR preventing its phosphorylation at serine 213. We further investigated the role of USP12 in prostate cancer by analysing the transcriptome of the LNCaP prostate ...

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) has emerged in youth, disproportionately affecting ethnic minorities. Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) has been reported in exclusively white UK children. We report the first UK Asian children with MODY, highlighting differences from T2DM.Child 1 is a slim (BMI SDS−0.14) female of Indian descent without acanthosis nigricans (AN). She presented aged 12 years with polydipsia and polyuria (HbA1c 8.6%). Hypoglycaemia w...

Background: The action of a steroid in any physiological process is dependent on the bioavailable (free) fraction. Direct measurements of free cortisol are expensive, labour intensive and require a significant volume of plasma and as a consequence are not feasible in the neonate. One alternative is to calculate free cortisol from the Cortisol Binding Capacity (CBC) and the total plasma cortisol. The aim of the present study was to develop an assay for the measurement of CBC in...