Endocrine Abstracts

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an orphan tumor entity the pathogenesis of which is poorly understood. In advanced tumour stages, prognosis is unfavorable, but biomarkers for early diagnosis are lacking. MALDI-Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI-MSI) enables semi-quantitative detection of a broad spectrum of analytes including endogenous cell metabolites in tissue sections. MALDI-MSI was used as a discovery approach to analyse tissue specimens of 72 ACC patients in FFPE tissue ...

Background: Extracellular vesicles (exosomes, microvesicles) shed from tumor cells containing microRNAs can be exploited as markers of malignancy. The preoperative diagnosis of adrenocortical malignancy is difficult and microRNAs have proved useful in the diagnosis of many tumors, including adrenocortical cancer (ACC), but there have no studies to date on extracellular vesicle associated microRNAs in ACC.Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic potential of extra...

Adrenocortical cancer (ACC) is a rare aggressive malignancy, with poor prognosis when metastaic at diagnosis. Recent ACC pan-genomics analysis contributed to redefine the risk groups on molecular bases, including tumor micro RNA (miR), which can be detectable not only in the primary lesion but also in the bloodstream.We develop a quantitative real-time assay for the measurement of absolute levels in plasma samples of miR483 and its mature miR483-5p form....

Context: The cyclical effects of hormones during the menstrual cycle (MC) are responsible for driving ovulation. The information about roles of adipokines within the scope of MC are not definite. Leptin plays a role in sexual function and regulating the onset of puberty. Thin girls often fail to ovulate or release an egg from an ovary during menstruation cycles. Leptin also acts on specific receptors in the hypothalamus to inhibit appetite. Levels of leptin are increased in wo...

The potential therapeutic applications of targeting brown adipose tissue open new clinical avenues in fighting against metabolic pathologies. However, due to the limited brown depots in adult humans, dramatically reduced after birth, solid cell models to study human brown adipogenesis and its pathophysiological regulation are urgently needed.In our study, we characterized a novel human model of brown adipose stem cells, hfB-ASC, derived from fetal inters...

Introduction: Adrenocortical tumours comprise frequent adenomas (ACA) and rare highly malignant carcinoma (ACC). Livin/ML-IAP/BIRC7 is a member of the inhibitors of apoptosis proteins family, which are involved in tumorigenesis, mostly through the inhibition of caspase-3. Aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of livin/BIRC7 in normal and neoplastic adrenal glands.Methods: The mRNA expression of BIRC7, its isoforms livin α...

Background: The differential expression of tissue microRNAs in benign and malignant adrenocortical tumours has been described in several studies including ours. Novel data show that microRNAs are also present in the bloodstream and can be exploited as minimally invasive markers of malignancy.Objective: To analyze the microRNAs expressed in different studies by an in silico approach and to establish the molecular pathways affected. Furthermore, circulatin...

The recent discovery of the presence of brown adipose tissue (BAT) also in human adults is pivotal for development of anti-obesity therapies. This type of fat, in fact, mainly consists of brite cells (brown adipocytes appearing for a browning process in white fat) which are involved in adiposity control. The origin of brite cells in adult white adipose tissue (WAT) is still unclear as human cell models are lacking.Our study demonstrated the presence of B...

The purpose of the menstrual cycle is to prepare the egg for fertilization and implantation. The changes and functions of the basic steroid hormones during the menstrual cycle are well known. However, changes to other hormones occur during the menstrual cycle as well, including those influencing the intake of food. These changes have been described inconsistently in the literature, especially considering differences in overweight and obese women. The aim of this study was to d...

Resin-based composite materials have become most used in restorative dentistry as a result of continuous effort to reduce the use of dental amalgam. Since 2018, it has been banned in children under 15 years of age, pregnant and nursing women. As these materials often contain bisphenol A glycidyl methacrylate (Bis-GMA) or derived monomers, bisphenol A (BPA), known for its endocrine disrupting effects, may be released and represent a low-dose and long-term source of BPA for the ...