Endocrine Abstracts

Dopamine agonists (DAs) are usually used as first line treatment in prolactinomas. Some tumors do not normalize prolactin levels under treatment and demonstrate a more aggressive course. The mechanisms underlying this chemoresistance are poorly understood. Previous gene expression studies have focused on candidate genes such as the DA receptor 2 (DRD2) or the nerve growth factor (NGF), but transcriptome analyses comparing tumors resistant and responsive to DA are still lacking...

Panhypopituitarism is a complex endocrine condition often thought to preclude breastfeeding due to its inherent hormonal deficiencies. Breastfeeding, however, is an important health behavior that reduces maternal morbidity and mortality. Breastfeeding reverses cardiometabolic risk factors acquired during pregnancy by reducing visceral fat and cholesterol, lowering risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular and neurovascular comorbidity, and breast and ovarian cancer. We report o...

Background: Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) exhibiting treatment-refractory behavior are the rare subset that progress after radiation and are characterized by unrelenting growth and metastatic dissemination.Methods: To identify biomarkers of treatment-refractory behavior, two groups of patients with PitNETs were consented to matched tumor-normal whole exome and targeted next-generation DNA sequencing on a clinical protocol: a prospective group...

Background: The neuropeptide kisspeptin is a key endogenous activator of the reproductive system. Due to its crucial role in modulating reproductive and behavioural processes, there has been accelerating interest in targeting kisspeptin-pathways to treat reproductive and psychosexual disorders. However, contradictory pre-clinical data from animal models suggests that kisspeptin can have an anxiolytic, anxiogenic or have no effects on anxiety. Given the rapid development of kis...

Androgen excess is a hallmark feature of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common form of anovulatory infertility. Clinical and preclinical evidence links developmental exposure to hyperandrogenism with programming the reproductive traits of PCOS. While the critical androgen targets remain to be determined, GABAergic neurons in the brain are postulated to be involved. GABA levels are elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of PCOS patients, and both GABA transmission and ...

Vaptans are nonpeptide vasopressin receptors antagonists, developed for the treatment of euvolemic or hypervolemic hyponatremia. Among them, tolvaptan, a selective V2receptors antagonist, approved for the treatment of hyponatremia secondary to the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis, was also approved for the treatment of polycystic kidney disease. Here, tolvaptan is able to reduce the growth of renal cysts and the rate of estimated glomerular filtration decrease...