Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Selenium (Se) sufficiency is beneficial for thyroid metabolism and pregnancy course due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. As a part of selenoenzymes, it ameliorates autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) progression in mothers and provides proper neurogenesis in fetuses. Despite lacking or conflicting recommendations for its supplementation in pregnancy, Se is used in a clinical setting, as a common constituent of multivitamin pregnancy diet supplemen...

Introduction: Hepcidin is a reactive inflammatory protein, responsible for ferrum homeostasis. Its concentration was already measured in hyperthyroiditis in the course of Graves disease and after restoration of euthyroidism, but also in growth hormone deficiency, hyperprolactinemia, however no significant changes were noted. De Quervain thyroiditis is a rare type of subacute thyroid inflammation, caused by interplay of unknown infectious, genetic and autoimmune factors and res...

Synthetic glucocorticoids (GCs) including dexamethasone (Dex) are potent anti-inflammatory drugs. However, long-term use of GCs results in deleterious side effects such as hyperglycemia, hepatosteatosis, and insulin resistance. The nuclear hormone receptors LXRα and LXRβ are known for their important roles in modulating whole-body cholesterol homeostasis. Recently, we have shown that liver X receptor β (LXRβ) knockout mice are protected against Dex-induced ...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency.Introduction: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a heterogenic group of disorders. Shared feature is a deficiency of one of the enzymes which are necessary for steroid synthesis. Due to wide clinical spectrum and rarity of the disease diagnosis can be challenging. Hereby we present the case of the patient, who after prolonged period of time was finally diagnosed with 3-be...

Introduction: The diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is often challenging and requires the use of several diagnostic methods. Late-night salivary cortisol (LNSC) offers an easy, non-invasive screening method for CS. However, its availability is still limited and the cut-off values vary widely between laboratories. The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of LNSC for CS in comparison with late-night serum cortisol (LNSerC) and 24-hour urinary free cortiso...

Introduction: Severe thyroid disorders are usually associated with myopathy. Muscle weakness may occur in both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. However, only hypothyroid patients experience increase in creatine kinase levels, depicting destruction of muscle fibers. There were recently some reports showing the lowering in serum concentrations of large sarcomere proteins – titin (TTN) and dystrophin (DMD) in patients with hypo- and hyperthyroidism....

Two female patients, A – 61-year-old, B – 68-year-old, were admitted to hospital with symptoms of hypercortisolemia. Both of them were diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumor (NET), patient A with pancreatic NET G3 (Ki67 – 30%), and patient B with a disease with a probable primary origin in lungs - NET G2 (Ki67 - 15%). Both women had metastases to the liver. While laboratory results were similar in both cases (high level of cortisol – up to 1750 nmol/l and ...

Background: The impact of subclinical hyperthyroidism (sHT) on lipids concentration is still unclear. The aim of the study was to prospectively evaluate the changes in lipid profile in patients with sHT and following restoration of euthyroid state.Patients and methods: The studied group consisted of 44 patients (37 females, 7 males), diagnosed with endogenous sHT in the course of either toxic multinodular goiter, diffused thyroid autonomy or autonomously...

Background: Acromegaly is a rare endocrine disorder characterized by excess growth hormone (GH) secretion. GH hypersecretion leads to the overproduction of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which has both somatic and metabolic effects. Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism is present in nearly 30%–50% of acromegaly patients. There is a close correlation between somatotropic axis and gonadal function. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of hypogonadism in m...

Background: ACTH-Independent Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia (AIMAH) is usually manifested as both-sided adrenal incidentalomas with subclinical overproduction of cortisol (<2% of Cushing’s syndrome). The pathogenesis involves genetic factors, expression of adrenal aberrant hormone receptors and paracrine adrenal corticotropin (ACTH) secretion. Treatment is usually bilateral adrenalectomy, but in some cases also unilateral adrenalectomy or pharmacologic therapy can b...