Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) is associated with a deficiency of sexual desire with marked distress. It affects up to 8% of men, but has no licensed treatments. The reproductive neuropeptide kisspeptin offers a putative therapeutic target owing to its emerging role in modulating reproductive behaviour in animal models and healthy men. However, there are no studies examining its effects in HSDD. To address this, we performed the first clinical study of ki...

Background: No predictive biomarkers have been identified for clinically nonfunctioning pituitary tumour (NFPT) recurrence, with Ki67 being controversial. We employed quantitative mass spectrometry-based analyses to examine the differential expression of proteins in NFPTs.Methods: NFPTs were sub-grouped: non-invasive/non-recurrent group (NI/NR-G, n=5), invasive group (I-G, n=10) and recurrent group (R-G, n=5). Invasiveness was ...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex reproductive event that is delineated by endocrine and metabolic disorders. Alteration of kisspeptin status in the hypothalamus and adipose tissue is critical to increased endocrine/metabolic derangements in PCOS individuals, aggravating the clinical manifestation of PCOS and its complications. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are crucial modulators of metabolic homeostasis. However, the role of SCFAs, in particular, ace...

Follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) is a Class A G protein-coupled receptor (GCPR) that is essential in reproduction. Interactions with its heterodimeric glycoprotein hormone, FSH, activates the cAMP/PKA signalling pathway, which induces steroidogenic activity and granulosa cell proliferation to support ovarian follicle growth and survival. Moreover, a number of ageing-related extragonadal roles of FSH/FSHR have been proposed, with menopausal elevation in FSH linked t...