Endocrine Abstracts

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of secondary hypertension. Although decline in renal function especially that experienced after adrenalectomy (ADX) has been demonstrated, details of the mechanism remain to be elucidated. Aim of the study was to investigate the factors predicting renal outcome after ADX in PA. Twenty patients with PA and four patients with non-functioning adrenal tumor (NFT) as control were studied. eGFR, serum potassium, plasma aldosterone ...

Inflammatory lesions of the pituitary gland are rarely encountered. Recently, the concept of IgG4-related systemic disease was proposed and several cases associated with infundibulo-hypophysitis were reported. We report 4 additional cases and review the cases in the literature. Case 1: 75-year-old female had diabetes insipidus due to infundibulo-neurohypophysitis for 25 years and chronic thyroiditis. She developed obstructive jaundice and surgery showed autoimmune pancreatitis...

Objective: Pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1b (PHP-1b) is rare disorders resulting from genetic and epigenetic aberrations in the GNAS locus. PHP-1b usually defined by isolated renal resistance to PTH, is due to a maternal loss of GNAS exonA/B methylation, leading to decreased Gs’α expression in specific tissues. To clarify the usefulness of methylation specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MS-MLPA), we evaluate the genetic and epigenetic changes o...

Background: Although primary aldosteronism (PA) is the common cause of hypertension subjected to surgery, methods of pathological confirmation of aldosterone overproduction have not been established. Aim of the study was to investigate immunohistochemically the expression of CYP11B2 in the adrenal tissue of PA.Methods: Twenty five patients with PA including 20 patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) and 5 patients without APA (non-APA) were stu...

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type2 (MEN 2) (OMIM 171400) is an autosomal dominant inherited cancer syndrome caused by activating mutations in the RET proto-oncogene. MEN 2 is classified into three subtypes: MEN 2A, MEN 2B and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma(FMTC). MEN 2B accounts for 5–10% of MEN2 cases. More than 95% of MEN 2B patients carry M918T mutation of RET, and 2–3% harbor A883F mutation. There has been three reports of cases with MEN 2B phenotype caused...

Back ground: Numerous researches indicate that DHEA administration decreases fat mass in human and rodent. We evaluated the effects of DHEA treatment on adiposity. Male Otsuka Long evans fatty (OLETF) rats, hereditary obese type 2 diabetic animals derived from long evans tokushima (LETO) rats. These rats were fed with or without (control) 0.4% DHEA containing food for 52 weeks. Telomere length as a marker of whole cell division in adipose tissue were assessed. Genomic DNA isol...

Obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the Western world, and its prevalence is dramatically increasing. Although obesity is primarily a metabolic disease, immunological aberrations also significantly contribute to obesity-related morbidity. The well-established state of chronic low-grade inflammation is considered to be crucial in the development of complications such as diabetes and atherosclerosis. Moreover, obesity is associated with increased suscept...

In recent years, it was demonstrated that tumor infiltrating and circulating regulatory and cytotoxic T-cells are associated with clinical outcome in several solid tumors. However, their role in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) was never studied, although 60% of these tumors secrete autonomously cortisol, a well-established potent immunosuppressant that most likely influences the balance between different T-cells.Firstly, we analyzed the circulating regula...

Adrenal cortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy, especially in children, and the annual worldwide incidence has been calculated as 0.3 cases per million children younger than 15 years old. We present a case of functioning ACC in a 7 years-old female child who manifested with virilization. She presented with low-pitched voice, excessive pubic hair growth, growth acceleration, clitoral enlargement and increased muscle strength at the age of six. Her blood pressure was norm...

Testosterone reduces myocardial ischaemia in men with coronary artery disease (CAD) and improves symptoms and exercise capacity in men with congestive heart failure (CHF), effects proposed to be due to testosterone-induced vasodilatation. Isolated vessel studies suggest this occurs via a calcium antagonistic action upon voltage-gated Ca2+ channels but this has yet to be investigated directly.We therefore employed patch clamp methodology to stu...