Endocrine Abstracts

IGF1 concentrations have been reported to increase with 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) values in population studies, but it is unclear whether this association expresses a cause-effect relationship. Mice genetically deficient of steroid receptor coactivator 3, a transcriptional coactivator for the nuclear vitamin D receptor, have significantly lower circulating IGF1 levels than wild-types.We measured serum fasting 25(OH)D and IGF1 by enzyme- and radioimmu...

Acromegaly and hypogonadism represent independent cardiovascular risk factors, worsening either different metabolic parameters or quality of life (QoL).In our cohort of 41 acromegalic males (20–82 years), 35 resulted affected by hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, while only six were eugonadal. Twenty-nine out 35 had low testosterone levels at diagnosis and six developed a post-surgical hypogonadism (testosterone cut-off: 350 ng/dl). Among hypogonadal su...

We found that mast cells were present in pubertal mammary glands, and hypothesized that they participate in mammary morphogenesis and are sensitive to IGF1, which is essential for mammary development.As independently reported in another model of mast cell deficiency (Developmental Biology 2010 337 124), mast cell-deficient W/Wv mice had significantly less terminal end buds and ducts and smaller gland areas than controls at 3, 6, ...

Gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are rare neoplasms with heterogeneous clinical behavior and potential long-term survival. In the last decade GEP–NET nomenclature has been twice reviewed. However, the 2000 WHO classification had poor prognostic power in well differentiated (WD) neoplasms. This led to the introduction of two new important parameters by the European Neuroendocrine Tumors Society (ENETS), grade and stage; the former became part of t...

Somatostatin analogs (SSAs) such as octreotide (OCT) are currently effective in controlling most hypersecretion associated symptoms of Gastoenteropancreatic-neuroendocrinetumors (GEP-NETs). The results of the phase IIIb PROMID trial showed that OCT doubled time to progression for patients with metastatic neuroendocrine midgut tumors compared with placebo. SSAs act on different intracellular pathways through different somatostatin receptor (Sst) subtypes. While OCT is mainly an...

Introduction: Primary empty sella (PES) is a frequent ‘incidental’ finding reported in 5–25% of general population and is associated with endocrine abnormalities in 8–60% of cases. In this collaborative multicentric study we evaluated cardiovascular risk by assessing clinical characteristics, glucidic profile and lipid parameters.Design: A total of 94 PES patients (39M-55F; mean age 50.3±0.9 years; mean BMI 28.9±0.5 kg/m<sup...

Serum IGF-I levels were measured in 547 non-hypopituitaric, non acromegalic healthy subjects of both sexes in Italy to develop reference values in relation to age and gender. Participant subjects were stratified in three age classes (25–39, 40–59 and≥60 years) and IGF-I assay was carried out by double-antibody radio immunoassay. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between age and IGF-I values was calculated by sex and pre-defined age ranges. IGF-I levels...