The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors has significantly improved the prognosis of patients with advanced malignancies. As we begin to understand these medications, multiple immune-related adverse effects (irAEs) have been found with these drugs, including endocrinopathies. Understanding the treatment-related adverse events of these medications...
Insulin receptor (Insr) protein can be found at higher levels in pancreatic β-cells than in most other cell types, but the consequences of β-cell insulin resistance remain enigmatic. Ins1cre allele was used to delete Insr specifically in β-cells of both female and male mice which were compared to Ins1cre-containing littermate controls at multiple a...
Vitamin B12 is an essential micronutrient that functions in two metabolic pathways: the canonical propionate breakdown pathway and the methionine/S-adenosylmethionine (Met/SAM) cycle. In Caenorhabditis elegans, low vitamin B12, or genetic perturbation of the canonical propionate breakdown pathway results in propionate accumulation and the transcrip...
The ovarian follicle luteinizing hormone (LH) signaling molecules that regulate oocyte meiotic maturation have recently been identified. The LH signal reduces preovulatory follicle cyclic nucleotide levels which releases oocytes from the first meiotic arrest. In the ovarian follicle, the LH signal reduces cyclic nucleotide levels via the CNP/NPR2 s...
Insulin resistance is associated with aging in mice and humans. We have previously shown that administration of recombinant GDF11 (rGDF11) to aged mice alters aging phenotypes in the brain, skeletal muscle, and heart. While the closely related protein GDF8 has a role in metabolism, limited data are available on the potential metabolic effects of GD...
Posttransplantation diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is a common and significant complication related to immunosuppressive agents required to prevent organ or cell transplant rejection. To elucidate the effects of 2 commonly used agents, the calcineurin inhibitor tacrolimus (TAC) and the mTOR inhibitor sirolimus (SIR), on islet function and test whether th...
Human pancreatic islets engrafted into immunodeficient mice serve as an important model for in vivo human diabetes studies. Following engraftment, islet function can be monitored in vivo by measuring circulating glucose and human insulin; however, it will be important to recover viable cells for more complex graft analyses. Moreover, RNA analyses o...
Transcription factor Neurod1 is required for enteroendocrine progenitor differentiation and maturation. Several earlier studies indicated that ectopic expression of Neurod1 converted non- neuronal cells into neurons. However, the functional consequence of ectopic Neurod1 expression has not been examined in the GI tract, and it is not known whether ...
BACKGROUND: As the prevalence of diabetes mellitus increases in the population, the exposure to antidiabetic drugs (ADDs) during pregnancies is expected to grow, as has been seen over the last decade. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of ADD use during pregnancy among women in the Mini-Sentinel Distributed Database (MSDD) w...
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We review recent data on bipolar disorder in menopausal-aged women, particularly in women undergoing the menopausal transition (MT). We discuss evidence on the severity of symptoms in bipolar women during the MT. Moreover, we address two factors in bipolar disorder and menopausal research: standardized menopausal staging and wome...
