Endocrine Abstracts

Cellular senescence is a state of permanent and stable proliferative arrest in G1 phase of the cell cycle through activation of the p53/p21 and pRb/p16 signalling pathways. Oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) is a highly proliferative state, which mimics transformation, but this mitotic burst is gradually replaced by senescence. Several lines of evidence have implicated OIS as a vital cause of arrest of benign neoplasms. Pituitary tumors are mostly benign, non-metasta...

The pituitary is the ‘master’ endocrine gland, governing the fundamental processes of body growth, metabolism, reproduction and stress. The past decade, it progressively became clear that the pituitary, like many adult tissues, harbors a population of stem cells. While the molecular portrayal of these cells is continually expanding, their function remains essentially hidden. From recent studies, the picture is emerging that the stem cells of the adult pituitary are h...

Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is a paediatric pituitary tumour that is associated with high morbidity due to the tendency of the tumour to infiltrate locally into surrounding brain structures such as the hypothalamus and visual tracts. We have developed mouse models for human ACP, which we are using to better understand the pathogenesis of these human tumours as well as to test novel targeted treatments. Using advanced imaging techniques such as X-ray computed tomog...