Endocrine Abstracts

The adrenal gland is a crucial regulator of numerous fundamental biological processes and its hormones are essential for maintaining homeostasis in normal and stressful situations. However, the impact of hypoxia signalling on the function of the adrenal remains poorly understood. During the past years, our research group has focused on enhancing our understanding of hypoxia pathway proteins (HPPs) in the different areas of the adrenal gland. Firstly, we described a crucial rol...

Evidence indicates that the adrenals are sexually dimorphic and asymmetric. These differences may have implications for the prevalence and progression of adrenal diseases, which also show asymmetry and sexual dimorphism. The present study aims to characterize the morphological and metabolic differences associated with adrenal sex and asymmetry in mice and humans. Adrenals were compared bilaterally in male and female C57B/6NRj mice with regard to morphological and hormonal char...

Background: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent cause of endocrine hypertension associated with excess aldosterone production from one or both adrenal glands. Somatic or germline mutations in the KCNJ5 potassium channel cause an imbalance in intracellular ion homeostasis. This ultimately drives aldosterone overproduction in some sporadic forms of PA and a familial form of the disease (familial hyperaldosteronism type 3). Our objective was to identify small molecule...

Background: It is well established that life-long follow-up is required for patients with hereditary pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs), due to the potential of developing recurrent disease. However, whether follow-up of patients with sporadic PPGLs is necessary, remains unclear.Aims: To examine the prevalence and predictors of recurrent disease in patients with sporadic PPGLs.Materials and method: This multicenter study included retrospective ...

Introduction: Pheochromocytoma, a rare catecholamine-secreting adrenal tumor, can cause hypertension and life-threatening complications. Hereditary cases have an increased risk of developing bilateral disease. Standard treatment involves radical adrenalectomy, leading to adrenal insufficiency in bilateral cases. Partial adrenalectomy aims to preserve adrenal function but has higher recurrence rates. This study compares outcomes of partial vs radical adrenalectomy in hereditary...

The recreational use of cannabis is becoming more widespread since many countries, including parts of Europe, are currently discussing legalisation. Moreover, the medical use of cannabinoids is already established and has many indications such as multiple sclerosis-induced spasticity or supportive therapy in the case of tumour-associated pain or loss of weight or appetite. However, the effects of cannabinoids on tumour growth still remain largely unexplored in many tumour enti...