Endocrine Abstracts

Ageing is associated with a decline in immunity, also termed immunesenescence. This is paralleled by a decline in the production of several hormones as typically illustrated by the menopausal loss of ovarian oestrogen production. This lecture will give a brief overview of the physiology and pathophysiology of steroid hormones that decline with ageing. Therein a specific focus will be laid on the ageing-associated decline in adrenal dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) production, an ...

Background: Recent therapeutic advances have resulted in prolonged survival of thalassemia major patients reaching adulthood and attaining reproductive capacity. However, endocrine complications are commoner in thalassemia major patients with up to 30% of patients showing hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism. Although spontaneous pregnancy have been described in well chelated and transfused patients, majority of thalassemia major patients are infertile and need assisted reproductive...

Normal ageing is accompanied by increased organismal frailty, reflecting organ specific functional decline, with an associated increase in the likelihood of disease. The immune system undergoes significant decline with age, termed immunesenescence, which results in increased susceptibility to infection and reduced vaccination responses. Significant changes in the hormonal milieu also occur with age and it is clear that age-related changes in adrenal hormone secretion can impos...

Measuring circulating androgen and gestagen concentrations is essential for the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of pathological conditions caused by abnormal steroidogenesis, such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Saliva collection represents a simple and non-invasive technique advantageous for multi sample profiling. We therefore developed a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for the s...

Measuring circulating androgen and gestagen concentrations is essential for the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of pathological conditions caused by abnormal steroidogenesis, such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Saliva collection represents a simple and non-invasive technique advantageous for multi sample profiling. We therefore developed a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for the s...

Hypercortisolaemia (Cushing’s Syndrome) is characterised by abdominal fat accumulation and gluteofemoral fat loss. The mechanisms underpinning this fat mass redistribution are unknown. Adipose tissue blood flow (ATBF) and net fatty acid release rate (lipolysis) are important determinants of depot-specific fat mass. We hypothesized that hypercortisolaemia may result in increased femoral ATBF and lipolysis promoting gluteofemoral fat mass loss. We recruited nine healthy mal...

Insulin resistance and androgen excess are the cardinal features of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The severity of hyperandrogenism and metabolic dysfunction in PCOS are closely correlated but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Aldoketoreductase type 1C3 (AKR1C3) is an important source of adipose androgen generation (converting androstenedione to testosterone) and we have postulated that it may have a critical role linking androgen metabolism and meta...

Mass spectrometry has been used to measure steroids for more than 40 years, but has gained popularity within the endocrine field in the last 15+ years. This is mainly due to technological advances that facilitated the development of high throughput methods.Historically, steroids were measured by crude techniques such as thin layer chromatography (TLC) and later by the more sophisticated RIA. The problems with these techniques include:<p class="abstex...

Leydig cell tumour (LCT) is a stromal testicular tumour comprising 3% of testicular neoplasms. Metastases are rare, have a poor prognosis and can appear many years after tumour removal. Current therapy for metastatic disease is limited, with no role for radiotherapy and poor efficacy of chemotherapy regimens. About 50–70% of metastatic LCT show associated steroid excess, comprising not only androgens but sometimes steroids physiologically produced in the adrenals. Here we...

New adrenal lesions discovered during cross-sectional abdominal imaging pose an increasingly common diagnostic challenge; their initial management should focus on the exclusion of malignancy and autonomous hormone excess. The role of adrenal biopsies in this context is limited and pathologists often struggle to differentiate benign from malignant adrenal tissue even when analysing the entire tumour specimen. Guidelines recommend that adrenal biopsy should only be considered if...