Endocrine Abstracts

Background: It is well-known that growth hormone (GH) potently stimulates collagen turnover and it is associated with fibrosis in several tissues, but the mechanisms involved in GH-stimulated fibrosis are poorly elucidated. Fibroblast activation protein-α (FAPα) is an enzyme that can cleave collagens and is expressed almost only under pathological conditions such as fibrosis. FAPα also cleaves and inactivates fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), which is a circu...

Background: Growth Hormone (GH) reversibly suppresses insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, but less is known about GH effects on glucose metabolism in the basal state. Somatostatin suppresses GH as well as insulin, and may also exert direct effects in skeletal muscle. This may have therapeutic implications in the treatment of acromegalic patients with a somatostatin analogue (SA).Aim: To study basal and insulin-stimulated glucose metabol...

Background: Long-term, low-dose prednisolone treatment (≤5mg/day) is associated with adrenal insufficiency in >33% of patients. Nevertheless, the clinical consequences of glucocorticoid-induced adrenal insufficiency in patients receiving ongoing low-dose glucocorticoid treatment are unknown. Current clinical guidelines do not recommend routine evaluation of adrenal function during low-dose glucocorticoid treatment, and patients are not routinely instructed to increase gl...