Endocrine Abstracts

Cushing’s disease (CD), caused by an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting pituitary tumor, is the most common form of hypercortisolism. Pituitary surgery is the first-line treatment of CD and medical treatment is an alternative second-line approach to control cortisol excess. Long-term exposure to glucocorticoids (GC) downregulates the expression of somatostatin receptor type 2 (SSTR2) but not type 5 (SSTR5) in human and mouse ACTH-secreting tumor cell cultures; t...

Rationale: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is common in patients with Cushing’s disease (CD) and Acromegaly (AC), and contributes to increased mortality. This study aimed at investigating the prevalence and characteristics of DM in CD and AC patients at diagnosis and after disease control (DC).Patients and Methods: 34 CD patients (8M,26F, 24 microadenomas(mA),6 macroadenomas (MMA) and 4 empty sella) and 35 AC patients (16M,19F, 7 mA,28 MMA) were inclu...

The transcriptional activator Bmal1, reaching acrophase in the morning and bathyphase in the evening, is the main regulator of circadian clock. A mutual interaction between circadian clock and glucocorticoids (GCs) has been described as well as their implication in muscle metabolism. The current in vitro study aims at investigating Bmal1 involvement in muscle catabolism induced by GCs circadian exposure. To this aim, mouse myocytes C2C12 were serum-shocked to synchron...

In vitro studies suggest that glucocorticoids (GC) long-term exposure downregulates SSTR2 but not SSTR5 expression in human and mouse ACTH-secreting tumor cells (AtT20), limiting the efficacy of octreotide (OCT), a somatostatin-receptor ligand with high affinity for SSTR2, in the treatment of Cushing’s disease (CD). In AtT20, dexamethasone treatment increased miR-375 expression, whose analysis revealed a seed-sequence for SSTR2, supporting the hypothesis that exc...

Life-long glucocorticoid (GC) treatment is needed in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency, to replace GC deficiency and to control androgens excess. Multiple daily immediate-release-hydrocortisone (IR-HC), characterized by GC overexposure, peaks and troughs, is frequently associated with a suboptimal androgen control, due to ACTH overnight increase. Once daily dual-release-HC (DR-HC), approved for adrenal insufficiency and, despit...