Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant neurocutaneous disorder characterised by the appearance of multiple, mostly benign, tumours throughout the skin and central nervous system. Furthermore, NF1 is associated with a number of (pre)malignant tumours including pheochromocytoma, glioma, invasive breast cancer and (pre)malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours (1). Approximately 1:2500 to 1:3500 individuals are affected.Medull...

There is ample evidence that despite an overall improvement of iodine intake, not only in Germany but also in many European countries pregnant woman may be deficient of this trace element.Healthy pregnant women (n=66) without a thyroid history volunteered for an ultrasound scan of the thyroid and for a blood sample; TSH, free T ¾ and TPO - antibodies were measured of the thyroid.21 (32%) of the pregnant women exhibited an ...

We describe the case of a 60-year old woman admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for progressively diminishing consciousness and severe lethargy. The patient was recently diagnosed with small cell lung carcinoma with solitary cerebral metastasis. In order to shrink the metastasis-induced cerebral edema she was treated with dexamethasone. She was hospitalized four days before admission to the ICU to start carboplatin-etoposide based chemotherapy. The day of admission she h...

Background: Graves’ disease (GD) is an autoimmune disease caused by antibodies directed to the TSH receptor (TRAb), which can be activating (TSAb), neutral, or blocking (TBAb). This balance determines the final clinical result. Typically TSAbs dominate, resulting in hyperthyroidism. Rarely, TBAbs prevail and result in hypothyroidism (1). The TRAb assay routinely used in the clinic does not allow to differentiate between stimulating or blocking characteristics.<p class...

1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, the hormonally active metabolite of vitamin D3, tightly controls calcium blood levels. An increase of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 leads to an increase in calcium concentration with calcium originating from various resources, including bone tissue. To assess a patient’s vitamin D status the precursor metabolite 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 is determined. However, measurement of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D is required w...

The adrenal and gonadal androgens testosterone, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) play an important role in sexual development and fertility as well as in several other processes. We developed a method to assess serum testosterone, androstenedione and DHEA levels in one run using isotope-dilution liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (ID-LC-MS/MS). Sample preparation consisted of addition of internal standards (13C3-testosterone, ...

Background: Hypothyroidism is a common endocrine disorder and the standard treatment is replacement therapy with levothyroxine (LT4). Although many hypothyroid patients improve upon treatment with LT4, a proportion seems to experience residual hypothyroid complaints despite treatment, even when plasma TSH and FT4 are within reference ranges.Methods: Using an on-line survey we investigated i) the health-related quality of life (QoL) (ThyPRO), ii) the acti...

Background: To arrest the immune-mediated destruction of the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells in type 1 diabetes (T1D), interventional studies have predominantly focussed on two distinct approaches: arresting the ongoing immune response or protecting the pancreatic beta cells. Recently, both approaches using respectively low-dose anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG), an immune-depleting agent, and verapamil, a calcium channel blocker with beta cell protective ...

The objective of this project was to develop and characterise a simple immunoassay for the quantification of free 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OH Vit D). Recent studies suggest that the concentration and genotype of vitamin D binding protein (DBP) are important factors that determine the bioavailability of 25OH Vit D in blood. It has been suggested that measurement of free, non-protein bound 25OH Vit D in serum, may provide more relevant diagnostic information than total 25OH Vit D,...

Background and aims: An interesting approach in the pursuit for a cure of type 1 diabetes is restoration of immune tolerance by a combination treatment of low-dose aCD3 with the islet antigen proinsulin (PINS) and the pro-tolerogenic cytokine IL-10 administered orally via genetically modified Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis) bacteria. The purpose of adding PINS is to expand antigen-specific Tregs as they are believed to migrate preferentially to disease-related target o...