Endocrine Abstracts

The hypothalamic decapeptide, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), is the key neuroendocrine regulator of mammalian reproductive development and function. GnRH binds to its target, the GnRH receptor (GnRHR), on pituitary gonadotropes to stimulate the synthesis and intermittent release of the gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which in turn stimulate gametogenesis and gonadal hormone synthesis. Thus GnRH, via the GnRHR, plays a piv...

The network paradigm is being increasingly used to describe the topology and dynamics of complex systems. The representation of protein structures as networks of interacting amino acids has in fact been used to investigate and elucidate complex phenomena such as protein folding and unfolding, protein stability, the role of structurally and functionally important residues, protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions and intra- and inter-protein communication and allosterism.</...

Early detection is essential for curative cancer therapy and for achieving a decrease in cancer mortality. Markers for incipient stages of every type of cancer constitute therefore all oncologists’ dream. We have recently uncovered a new tumor marker, the FSH receptor (FSHR). Compared with the available markers, FSHR is found in a wide array of cancers, including eleven of the most frequent types. We have shown by various methods that FSHR is expressed in >1300 human ...