Expression of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor gene is altered by GnRH agonist desensitization in a manner similar to that of gonadotropin beta-subunit genes in normal and castrated rat pituitary.

It was previously established that the administration of a potent GnRH agonist such as triptorelin (D-Trp6-GnRH) induced desensitization of pituitary gonadotropic cells, resulting in decreased expression of gonadotropin beta-subunit genes and the suppression of LH and FSH synthesis and release. Binding of GnRH to the pituitary is also affected by agonist treatment. To examine the desensitizing effects of GnRH agonist on the expression of the pituitary GnRH receptor (GnRH-R) gene, male rats were given triptorelin (long-acting formulation, 300 micrograms/kg), and levels of GnRH-R messenger RNA (mRNA) were determined by Northern and dot blot hybridization to a 32P-labeled rat complementary DNA probe.

Effect of Decapeptyl (a GnRH analogue) and of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha), in the presence of heparin, on the sulfatase activity of human breast cancer cells.

The effects of the polypeptide Decapeptyl (a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist analogue) and of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha), on estrone sulfate-sulfatase activities in the homogenates of various breast cancer cell lines were studied in the presence of heparin. In hormone-dependent MCF-7 breast cancer cells, Decapeptyl can inhibit sulfatase activity, and this effect is significantly augmented in the presence of heparin. In the other hormone-dependent T-47D breast cancer cell line, the decrease of sulfatase activity was only significant when Decapeptyl was associated with heparin.

Administration of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist during pregnancy: follow-up of 28 pregnancies exposed to triptoreline.

Objective: To evaluate the teratogenic or fetal risk of a long-acting GnRH agonist (GnRH-a) triptoreline acetate (Decapeptyl; Ipsen-Biotech, Inc., Paris, France), inadvertently administrated in the first weeks of pregnancy.

Design: Prospective follow-up of exposed pregnancies and case reports.

[Treatment of central precocious puberty with sustained-release triptorelin].

Central precocious puberty is defined as the appearance of morphological and biological changes induced by the early maturation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal system before eight years of age in girls and ten years of age in boys. This early onset of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone pulse generator activation leads to secretion of gonadal steroids and therefore to the development of secondary sexual characteristics. The aim of medical treatment is to suppress the secretion of sex hormones.

[Treatment of acromegaly with a new slow release somatostatin analog, lanreotide].

Treatment of Acromegaly has been improved by the development of the somatostatin analogs characterized by an increased specificity and longer duration of action. One of these analogs-Lanreotide- (Somatuline) is supplied under a slow release formulation and does not require several daily injections like other analogs presently available. The clinical pharmacodynamic studies that have been conducted in healthy and acromegalic patients show that the i.