Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The majority of patients with GH insensitivity have defects in the extracellular domain of the GHR. We have identified a 47yr old woman homozygous for a 22bp deletion in the cytoplasmic domain of the GHR. The patient had high GH levels, and low IGF-1 of 8 ug/L (normal 54-389 ug/L), IGFBP-3 16nmol/L (normal 61-254 nmol/L) and GHBP 6.8 percent (normal greater than 10 percent) levels. We report functional studies for this mutation (GHR1-449) which results in premature...

We have previously demonstrated that a truncated GHR lacking the cytoplasmic domain of the receptor acts as a dominant negative regulator of receptor signalling. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors are a common mechanism by which cells direct and anchor proteins in the cell membrane. We have generated a GHR extracellular domain-GPI fusion protein and tested its biological activity as a receptor antagonist. The extracellular domain of GHR (growth hormone binding protein-...

Over a third of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) display glucose intolerance and multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including central obesity. Interleukin-6, a cytokine that is mainly derived from adipose tissue, has recently been implicated as an important link in the development of cardiovascular disease in obesity. We determined the relations between circulating Interleukin-6 levels and anthropometric, metabolic and hormonal parameters in 38 wome...

Background: Growth of solid tumours is angiogenesis dependent. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) are potent endothelial cell mitogens that play a central role in angiogenesis. Very recently intratumoral lymphangiogenesis has been reported. There are currently no data on the presence of angiogenesis or lymphangiogenesis in parathyroid proliferative lesions compared to normal glands.Objectives: (1) To analyse microvascular den...

Background: Leptin, the satiety hormone that is produced by adipose tissue appears to act as a link between nutritional status and immune function, and it has been shown to elicit a number of immunoregulatory effects, including the promotion of T cell proliferative responses, and the elicitation of pro-inflammatory cytokines from T cells and monocytes. Given that leptin deficiency is associated with an increased susceptibility to infection, and that polymorphonuclear neutrophi...

IntroductionThe prognosis in head and neck cancer has remained unchanged over the last 20 years (overall 5 year survival 50-60 percent), and is adversely affected by tumour angiogenesis. The effects of the anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenic peptide somatostatin (SST) are mediated through a family 5 receptors (SSTRs 1-5), whilst the angiogenic cytokine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) acts predominantly via 2 receptors: FLK and FLT. The objective of this study ...

Introduction: Identifying leptin agonists and antagonists requires a reliable bioassay responsive to physiological levels of leptin. The leptin receptor exists in multiple isoforms but Ob-Rb, the full length receptor, mediates the biological actions of leptin and its predominant signalling pathway is through STAT3. We report the development of a bioassay based on a STAT3 firefly luciferase reporter. Materials and Methods: HEK 293 cells were transfected with varying amounts of ...

We recently observed that serum interleukin-18 and tumour necrosis factor alpha concentrations are positively associated with obesity and increased serum triglyceride concentration in man.The objective of this study was to find out if these cytokines were associated with hyperglyceamia,hyperlipidaemia,hypertension and hyperurcaemia in an adult population.The study population consisted of 570 apparently healthy adults aged 15 years and over.Systolic and diastolic blood pressure...

Recently,we reported that obesity is an independent risk factor for lipid peroxidation in man and hypothesised that cytokines might play a part in this.The objective of this study was to find out if the serum concentrations of interleukin-18 and tumour necrosis factor alpha were associated with body mass index and plama malondialdehyde concentration in healthy adults.The study population consisted of 570 adults aged 15 years and older.We determined their body weights and heigh...