10th Meeting of the European Neuroendocrine Association (ENEA)
- Report
Awards
From the September 12 to 14, 2002 the 10th
Congress of the ENEA took place in Munich under the presidency
of Professor Günter K. Stalla (Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry,
Dept. of Endocrinology, Munich). |
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The aim of ENEA which was founded 1984 in Switzerland is to support
and to integrate pre-clinical and clinical aspects of neuroendocrinology
in Europe. For this reason biennial ENEA congresses take place in
different European capitals. Despite current competitive meetings,
the ENEA congress 2002 was attended by more than 750 physicians
and scientists and around 100 co-workers of the pharmaceutical and
biotechnical industry from 54 nations.
Therefore, the ENEA congress 2002 was so far the world-wide most
successful congress in neuroendocrinology and represented a highlight
in the history of ENEA meetings. Especially the big number of participants
from Eastern European countries and of countries outside of Europe
should be mentioned.
During the congress 414 scientific abstracts and contributions
from 39 countries were presented within a frame of 4 plenary lectures,
13 symposia, 2 workshops, 3 Meet-the-Professor-Sessions, oral communications
and posters.
In addition, the prize for Endocrine
Communication and Regulation of the Ipsen Foundation was awarded
to Prof. Wylie Vale (Salk Institute, USA). His
scientific work comprises the identification of a number of important
neuroendocrine peptides such as CRF, urocortins, GRF and activin
as well as the cloning of the CRF type I receptor and of a modulating
binding protein. The two ENEA Young Investigator
Awards 2002 (for basic and clinical research) have been awarded
for outstanding research in neuroendocrinology.
Major clinical topics have been future therapeutical options provided
by new and specific somatostatin analogues and by GH receptor antagonists,
management of complicated pituitary tumours, GH replacement strategies
and neuroendocrinology of aging. Prof. S. Lamberts
(Rotterdam) reported that individuals with genetically determined
low IGF-I levels exhibit an increased risk for diabetes mellitus
and heart attack. Prof. G. Aimaretti (Turin) showed
that 39 % of patients with severe brain injury and 63 % of patients
with subarachnoidal bleeding develop pituitary insufficiency.
Topics of the symposia related to basic neuroendocrine research
have been dealing with the role of estrogens in neuroprotection,
with neuroendocrine-immune interactions, with neuroendocrine signal
transduction mechanisms, with the pathogenesis and development of
pituitary tumours, with different regulatory factors of pituitary
function and with neuroendocrine mechanisms of weight control.
Highlights of the ENEA meeting have been the 4 plenary lectures:
Prof. Shlomo Melmed (Los Angeles) reported about
recent advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of pituitary
adenomas. He showed that the pituitary tumour transforming gene
(PTTG) product is an oncogene, which is involved in early steps
of pituitary tumour formation. PTTG expression is stimulated by
estradiol and cyclically fluctuating during the estrous cycle in
female rats. Sustained estrogen-induced PTTG over-expression probably
induces aneuploidy of pituitary cells and moreover, initiates over-expression
of growth factors like FGF leading finally to prolactinoma formation.
Therefore, anti-estrogens block the estrogen/PTTG-induced prolactinoma
development.
Prof. Andre Lacroix (Montreal) was talking about
the genesis of Cushing´s syndrome as a consequence of aberrant hormone
receptors of the adrenals. Abnormal function and/or expression of
vasopressin-, serotonin- and other receptors can induce hypersecretion
of cortisol by still largely unknown molecular mechanisms. Aberrant
adrenal hormone receptors have to be taken into consideration in
the differential diagnosis of Cushing´s syndrome.
Prof. Florian Holsboer (Munich) demonstrated on
the basis of CRH the way from basic research on depression to the
development of novel therapeutical approaches in the treatment of
this disease. Mice overexpressing CRH show signs and symptoms of
affective disorders, whereas CRH receptor type-1 (CRHR1) knock-out
mice show reduced anxiety-like behaviour. In vivo studies in innate
high-anxiety rat strains with a novel CRHR1 antagonist (R121919)
reduced anxiety-like behaviour. In patients with major depression
R121919 was as effective as standard antidepressants. This indicates
that CRHR1 antagonists represent powerful future tools for the individual
pharmacological treatment of patients with affective disorders.
Prof. Stephen O´Rahilly (Cambridge) summarised
the genetic background of obesity. Deficiency or inactivating mutations
of different factors or various receptors (e.g. leptin deficiency,
mutations of pro-opiomelanocortin, leptin receptor or prohormone
convertase-1) can cause severe obesity. Moreover, genome-wide scans
have provided first evidence for the involvement of particular chromosomal
regions in the pathogenesis of obesity.
During the ENEA Congress 2002, as a joint meeting the 6th Annual
Conference of the Neuroendocrine Section of the German Endocrine
Society took place. In this meeting perspectives of novel techniques
(e.g. DNA arrays, proteomics) and of magnetic resonance tomography
(MR) for basic and clinical neuroendocrinology were discussed. In
particular it was shown that MR can be used as a non-invasive method
to visualise three-dimensional anatomical structures (MR angiography)
and to determine metabolic parameters in tissues and cells. Moreover,
functional MR can be applied for mapping of neurofunctional structures
and MR is also very helpful in intraoperative monitoring.
The 10th ENEA meeting provided a state of the art overview of the
full field of neuroendocrinology and an excellent occasion for informative
discussions and debates with colleagues from all over the world.
The next Congress of the ENEA will take place in Sorrent-Naples
(Italy) from the 24th to the 27th of April 2004.
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