Endocrine Abstracts

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is a gut hormone that broadly promotes glucose homeostasis through the regulation of islet hormone secretion. Interestingly, GLP-1 has been reported to be both cause and cure of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Decreased GLP-1 is thought to cause the progression from impaired glucose tolerance to frank T2DM. Conversely, the GLP-1 system has been successfully targeted as a treatment option for T2DM patients and increases in GLP-1 have been implic...

The preproglucagon gene (Gcg), expressed in the intestine, the pancreas, and a small cluster of neurons in the hindbrain, encodes multiple peptides in a tissue-specific manner. One of these peptides, glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) increases following meals, functions to stimulate insulin secretion, and is essential for normal glucose tolerance. The dogma is that intestinally-derived GLP-1 acts as a hormone binding to pancreatic GLP-1 receptors (GLP-1r) to stimulate insulin se...

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) morbidity and mortality are increasing at an alarming rate in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Myocardial dysfunction may develop without ischemic heart disease (IHD), hypertension, or valvular pathologies, and which is defined as diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Although the pathophysiology of DCM is unclear, DCM is initially characterised by myocardial fibrosis, dysfunctional remodelling, and associated diastolic dysfunction, later by systoli...

Cardiac arrhythmias in thyrotoxicosis are usually seen as sinus tachycardia and atrial fibrillation but conduction abnormalities in the form of heart blocks do occur in rare instances. We present here four hyperthyroid patients with complete heart blocks. Cases 1 and 2 are young women diagnosed with Graves’ disease who both experienced syncope and were seen to have 3rd degree atrio-ventricular block. Case 3 is a young woman who presented with palpitations, fever and short...

Members of the TGF-β superfamily of ligands signal through a combination of Type I and Type II receptors. Type I and Type II receptors have been related to various human diseases including developmental malformation, cancers and endocrine disorders. However, little is known about the function of ALK7, a Type I receptor expressed in prenatal and adult CNS and various endocrine tissues. We have generated a mice lacking ALK7, which are viable and fertile but display metaboli...

Background: Autoantibodies directed against complement C1q (anti-C1q) have been described in a number of systemic autoimmune disorders. In systemic lupus erythematosus, they are strongly associated with proliferative lupus nephritis. However, no study has focused on the presence of anti-C1q in organ specific autoimmune disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of anti-C1q in autoimmune thyroid disorders (AITD).Methods: Serum levels...

Introduction: Although some studies have shown elevated soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R) in sera of patients with hematological malignancies and some autoimmune diseases, its role in serum is not fully understood.Patients and methods: The aim was to compare serum levels of sIL-2R in four groups of women (11 with Graves’ disease, 10 with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, 11 with breast cancer and 10 healthy controls) and to test their possible rel...

Different animal models have been used to study the postnatal effect of a prenatal exposure to an androgen excess on the female offspring. We have established a sheep model to test the hypothesis that the intrauterine environment of the PCOS mother may play a role in the etiology of the PCOS. In this regard, our sheep model for the study of PCOS has the advantage that provides mainly an androgenized milieu to the fetus in comparison to pregnant PCOS women who offers a hyperand...

Insulin resistance is defined as the incapacity of insulin to increase glucose uptake by peripheral tissues (skeletal muscle and adipose tissue principally). This phenomenon is present in different animal models for PCOS by prenatal exposure to androgens. In the PCOS condition, the metabolic pathway of insulin activity is defective in skeletal muscle and adipocyte whereas the activation of steroidogenesis is maintained. The decreased insulin stimulated glucose uptake is due to...

Prenatal and postnatal environment can regulate gene expression through multiple epigenetic mechanisms, being DNA methylation among the most relevant. Metabolic and reproductive function may be modified by this mechanism. Sons born to women with PCOS show altered markers of metabolic and reproductive function during childhood and adulthood. However, these functions have not been studied during puberty. The aim of the present study was to assess the global methylation pattern a...