ESPE Abstracts

Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is defined by androgen excess and ovarian dysfunction in the absence of a specific physiological diagnosis. The best clinical marker of androgen excess is hirsutism, while the best biochemical parameter is still a matter of debate. Current consensus guidelines recommend serum free testosterone as the most sensitive serum parameter to measure androgen excess. Recently, however, novel active androgens and androgen metabo...

The physiology of adrenarche, i.e. the development of the zona reticularis of the adrenal cortex, is mostly unknow. Some genes of steroidogenic enzymes need to be down- (HSD3B2) while others upregulated (e.g. CYB5) to enhance androgen production in zona reticularis, but it is not known how this is regulated. Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that can affect gene expression at posttranscriptional level. We hypothesized that miRNAs might be involved in regulating adr...