Endocrine Abstracts

Thyroid hormone (T3) is an important regulator of skeletal development and bone turnover. Thyrotoxicosis is associated with accelerated growth, advanced bone age and osteoporosis. T3-action in bone is mediated mainly by T3-receptors (TRs). TRβPV mice harbour a dominant-negative mutation in the TRβ gene that impairs negative feedback control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis resulting in elevated thyroid hormone and TSH concentrations. TRβ<sup...

Objectives: Tri-iodothyronine (T3) can improve cardiovascular performance following cardiac surgery. Its effects on myocardial protection are unknown.Methods: We performed two consecutive randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trials (identical management protocols) on patients undergoing first time isolated elective or urgent on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Between January 2000 and September 2004, 440 patients were re...

ObjectivesBoth glucose insulin potassium (GIK) and tri-iodothyronine (T3) may improve cardiovascular performance following cardiac surgery. The effects of combined treatment are unknown.MethodsAfter obtaining local research ethics committee approval, we performed a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial on patients undergoing first time elective/urgent isolated CABG. Between January 2000 ...

Objective. The aims of our study were to utilise a combination of high fidelity phenotyping, microarray gene expression profiling and conserved synteny mapping between rodent and human genomes to identify genetic determinants underlying human hypertension.Methods. We used the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) and a congenic strain (SP.WKYGla2c*) produced by introgressing a quantitative trait locus responsible for blood pressure regulation on rat chromosom...

Ample literature exists on thyroid functioning and adjustments in Iodine-sufficient pregnant women. But information from endemic-iodine zones is meagre. In this study we attempt to understand how the thyroid copes with the dual challenge of iodine deficiency posed by physiological status of pregnancy and that by Iodine-deficient environment.Objective: To compare TSH and FT4 profiles and their mutual correlation in iodine-deficient and iodine-sufficient s...

Background: Thyroid hormone (TH) action is mediated by TH receptors (TRs) α&β. Both regulate gene expression by binding TREs on the DNA (canonical signaling) or activate cellular signaling pathways (noncanonical signaling). Bone is a major TH target and noncanonical TR α & β effects on bone metabolism were suggested. We studied mouse model bones to distinguish between signaling types.Methods: Growth of WT mice and mice with ei...

G-protein subunit α-11 (Gα11), which is encoded by GNA11, plays a major role in calcium homeostasis by regulating parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion, and germline loss-of-function mutations cause familial hypocalciuric hypercalcaemia type 2 (FHH2). Since Gα11 is ubiquitously expressed, we investigated whether FHH2 is associated with additional non-calcitropic phenotypes by analysing mice harbouring a homozygous germline deletion o...

Background: Sympathetic pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors associated with excess catecholamine production. Routine biochemical and imaging surveillance to monitor for recurrence and metastasis is recommended. However, there is limited data describing optimal surveillance approaches and post-operative biochemical thresholds for detecting recurrences or metastases. This study sought to correlate biochemical and imaging surveillance with ...

Synthetic glucocorticoids (Gc) are the most potent anti-inflammatory agents known and are widely used to treat a range of chronic inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. However their therapeutic utility is limited by the development of Gc resistance over time – particularly at sites of inflammation. Understanding the underlying mechanisms that control Gc sensitivity is essential to overcome this. Previous studies have measured the average transcr...

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents 10–20% of all breast cancers diagnosed, affects young people and is highly aggressive. These tumours lack expression of the receptors that bind estrogen and progesterone and stratify patients for hormonal therapy. The only current therapeutic option for TNBC is chemotherapy which has limited efficacy, and therefore novel therapies are desperately needed. The receptors for estrogen and progesterone belong to the nuclear recep...