Endocrine Abstracts

The growing complexity of medical practice has increased the demand for well conceived guidelines. Such guidance is also urgently needed in endocrinology, but difficult, as well-conducted trials are scarce. As a first step towards the systematic development of ’Best Practice in European Endocrinology’ a guideline for diagnosis and treatment of hyponatremia was initiated.Hyponatremia is the most frequent electrolyte disorder and of prognostic si...

B Allolio, Department for Endocrinology and Diabetes, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany AbstractBruno Allolio received his Bachelor of Physics Degree in 1974 and graduated in Medicine from the University of Cologne in 1975. He obtained his MD in 1977 and trained in General Medicine and Endocrinology at the University Hospital Cologne. He received basic science training under the auspices of John Landon at Ba...

DHEA and its sulfate ester DHEAS are the major steroids secreted by the adrenal zona reticularis. DHEA exerts its action either indirectly in peripheral target tissues following its conversion to potent sex steroids or directly as a neurosteroid. Moreover, there is growing evidence of high affinity binding sites on endothelial cells and lymphocytes suggestive of the presence of a specific DHEA receptor. Studies in patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI) have elucidated the ro...

Introduction: There is no difference in blood pressure between boys and girls, but following puberty, blood pressure increases more in men than in women. The higher blood pressure and stronger progression of hypertension in men is associated with a higher risk and mortality for cardiovascular diseases than in women. Androgens are known to play an important role in renal tubular epithelial cell growth, hypertrophy and erythropoetin production and may be important determinants o...

Combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD) denotes impaired production of growth hormone (GH) and of one or more other pituitary trophic hormones. Distinct subtypes of CPHD have been shown to be due to mutations in different homeobox transcription factors, which are involved in pituitary development and organogenesis. So far, only PROP-1 and HESX1 mutations have been associated with CPHD comprising corticotropin deficiency. Here we report two patients with a novel form of CP...

Gorham-Stout disease is a rare, potentially life threatening skeletal disorder of unknown aetiology. It is characterized by local proliferation of abnormal vessels associated with profound osteolysis. Optimum treatment remains to be established. Herein we report the case of a 45-year-old woman who presented with left-sided thoracic pain, which had gradually increased over the last nine months. Physical examination revealed a primary lymphoedema of the left arm, which had devel...

Objective: The major diagnostic problem in primary aldosteronism is the differentiation between bilateral hyperplasia and aldosterone producing adenoma which is essential for further treatment. Adrenal vein sampling is regarded as the current gold standard, however it is an invasive, highly examiner-dependent method. Molecular imaging targeting the aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) which is expressed specifically in aldosterone producing adrenal tissue may be an useful alternativ...

Introduction: The genetic mechanisms underlying adrenocortical tumor development are still largely unknown. We used high-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarrays to detect copy number alterations (CNAs) and copy neutral losses of heterozygosity (cnLOH) in cortisol-secreting adrenocortical adenomas (ACAs). We focused on microalterations aiming to discover new candidate genes involved in early tumorigenesis and/or autonomous cortisol secretion.<p class="ab...

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...

Background: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare solid tumor with poor prognosis in advanced stages. The adrenolytic drug mitotane and cytotoxic chemotherapies are current treatment options with limited clinical efficacy. Animal experiments pointed to an adrenotoxic effect of sunitinib suggesting potential antineoplastic activity in ACC.Study population: Thirty-eight patients with advanced ACC progressing after mitotane and 1–3 cytotoxic chemoth...