Endocrine Abstracts

We investigated the direct effects of the somatostatin analog octreotide on hallmarks of autophagy and of cell viability and metabolic activity in rat pituitary tumor cells (GH1 and GH3 cells). The Western blot analysis of cell lysates suggested that octreotide (100 nM) treatment could induce changes in hallmarks related to autophagy activation (increased LC3-I protein lipidation) and to enhanced autophagic flux (SQSTM1/p62 protein downregulation) in pituitary tumor cells in d...

Thyroid cancer is the most common type of endocrine tumor and reaches the peak of incidence between the age of twenty and fifty years. It has 4-fold higher prevalence in females than males, suggesting that estrogens and their receptors could be involved in thyroid cancer pathogenesis. Previous studies demonstrated allosteric interference operated by G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) to molecules structurally similar to the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor (T...

Smoking by women during pregnancy can result in a 30–48% reduction in sperm count and testis size in the exposed offspring in adulthood, probably because of a decrease in the number of Sertoli cells. Until recently Sertoli cell proliferation was thought to be androgen independent because fetal Sertoli cells do not express the androgen receptor, but new evidence suggests that androgens may play the lead role in regulating Sertoli cell proliferation in fetal (Tan et al.<...

Disorders of male reproductive health, including testicular cancer, cryptorchidism, hypospadias and low sperm counts, are common and may be increasing in incidence. These conditions manifest at different life stages (low sperm counts and testicular cancer in adulthood; cryptorchidism and hypospadias at birth) but are proposed to originate in fetal life. These disorders have therefore been hypothesized to comprise a ‘testicular dysgenesis syndrome’ (TDS), which result...

Background: Primary aldosteronism is a common cause of arterial hypertension, but its underlying molecular mechanisms are unknown. K+ is a key regulator of aldosterone secretion: it interacts with physiological secretagogues of aldosterone as angiotensin II (Ang II) end endothelin-1. In vivo genetic manipulation of a widely distributed class of channels, which generate background or ‘leak’ potassium (K+) currents, the twik-related acid-se...

Adipocytes are important metabolic buffers and endocrine regulators of energy expenditure and satiety. Adipocyte dysfunction, either genetic or as observed in acquired obesity, is linked to hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome. I will discuss novel translational regulators of adipocyte function and focus on the role of the proteasome for cellular protein quality control, ER stress, and maintenance of healthy brown and white adipocytes in obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis i...

Skeletal lesions are a frequent complication of breast and prostate cancer. At present, 60–80% of patients with breast or prostate cancer develop bone metastases, which frequently result in skeletal-related events, including pathological fractures, pain, and neurological syndromes that require surgery or radiotherapy, and reduce quality of life. Autocrine and paracrine factors modulate various aspects of bone metastasis, including tumor proliferation, epithelial-to-mesenc...

PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is one of the most common endocrine disorders and NAFLD (Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) is one of its most dangerous metabolic consequences. The diagnosis of NAFLD is not a practical task and the condition is at risk of being overlooked. The use of simpler but still reliable surrogate markers is necessary to identify women with a high likelihood of NAFLD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical correlates of NAFLD Liver Fat Score ...

Background: The NETest is a multi-gene assay comprising 51 circulating neuroendocrine tumor specific transcripts. The quotient of the 51-gene assay is based upon multi-algorithmic data analysis. Eight cancer hallmarks or ‘omes’ (apoptome, epigenome, growth factor signalome, metabolome, proliferome, plurome, secretome SSTRome) represent 29 genes. The NETest is an accurate diagnostic (>90%) but its prognostic utility has not been assessed. In this study, we describe ex...

Introduction: The differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is the most frequent endocrine malignancy with the incidence increasing worldwide. Although, DTCs are considered to be mostly indolent lesions, the proportion of patients develop metastases. Therefore, identification of molecular factors that are involved in thyroid tumour progression might help to better understand the mechanism of thyroid cancer metastasis. In the present study we examine the role of the transcription fac...