Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Adrenal incidentalomas (AI) are asymptomatic adrenal lesions found on imaging not primarily performed to detect adrenal disease. We conducted a retrospective audit of management of AI following European Society of Endocrinology recommendation (2016).Methods: This was a retrospective review of incidentaloma referrals over 9 months (June 2017–March 2018). Cases were identified using criterion search of the referral console. Additional data...

Introduction: Exercise in the heat can impose significant physiological strain and may result in incapacity, illness and death from exertional heat stroke (EHS). The adrenocortical response to exercise is known to be amplified with concurrent heat stress, suggesting the potential utility of cortisol measurement in dynamic surveillance for heat intolerance. In laboratory conditions, a standard Heat Tolerance Assessment (HTA) may be used to determine thermal tolerance to exercis...

Immunotherapies such as IL-2 and interferon have long been used in the treatment of certain cancers and immune mediated conditions. It has also long been recognised that their use is associated with an increased risk of autoimmune thyroid disease. Recent advances in the use of checkpoint inhibitors, such as ipilimumab and PD-1 inhibitors, in the treatment of a number of common cancers, as well as treatments such as alemtuzumab in multiple sclerosis have dramatically increased ...

Over the past decade, annual spending on pharmaceutical development to treat many endocrinological systems has increased exponentially. At the same time, in spite of these huge sums invested, the average number of drugs being approved for human use has decreased to one in ten. Currently, preclinical studies to test the safety and efficiency of new drugs, use laboratory animals and traditional 2D cell culture models. Neither of these methods are completely accurate reflections ...

Immunotherapies such as IL-2 and interferon have long been used in the treatment of certain cancers and immune mediated conditions. It has also long been recognised that their use is associated with an increased risk of autoimmune thyroid disease. Recent advances in the use of checkpoint inhibitors, such as ipilimumab and PD-1 inhibitors, in the treatment of a number of common cancers, as well as treatments such as alemtuzumab in multiple sclerosis have dramatically increased ...

Over the past decade, annual spending on pharmaceutical development to treat many endocrinological systems has increased exponentially. At the same time, in spite of these huge sums invested, the average number of drugs being approved for human use has decreased to one in ten. Currently, preclinical studies to test the safety and efficiency of new drugs, use laboratory animals and traditional 2D cell culture models. Neither of these methods are completely accurate reflections ...

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) plays fundamental roles in the control of reproductive physiology. Perturbations in GnRH production or secretion cause infertility or subfertility. GnRH analogs are used clinically to both promote and inhibit the reproductive axis. GnRH is produced in neurons in the hypothalamus and is released in pulses into the pituitary portal system. The hormone binds to its cell surface receptor, GnRHR, on pituitary gonadotrope cells, where it stimula...

Checkpoint Inhibitors have emerges as a major breakthrough in cancer therapy. Side effects are largely immune mediated, termed immune related adverse events. Whilst the majority of these respond to immunosuppressive treatment, most frequently glucocorticoids, endocrinopathies are amongst the more frequent adverse events, and usually lead to permanent hormone deficiency, requiring life long hormone replacement. There are differences in the pattern of endocrinopathy between diff...

Thyroid eye disease (TED), or Graves’ orbitopathy, is a common manifestation of autoimmune thyroid disease, affecting up to 30% of patients. Prompt identification of the development of TED is often difficult as the underlying inflammation of the orbital tissues and can lead to a wide range of symptoms and signs.These include extraocular muscle fibrosis leading to diplopia, orbital congestion leading to optic nerve compression and lid retraction lead...

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) are incretin hormones secreted by gut endocrine cells that act on structurally related β-cell G protein coupled receptors to trigger glucose-dependent insulin secretion. Both peptide hormones augment glucose-stimulated insulin secretion although the actions of GIP are diminished in the setting of hyperglycemia. Moreover, the two incretin hormones, and their structurally related receptor...