Endocrine Abstracts

The use of more tissue-mimetic 3-dimensional (3D) cell culture models for in vitro drug screening has significantly increased in the past with the expectation to overcome with over-interpretation of drug effects obtained with conventional 2D cultures. In this study, we characterized 3D prostate cancer (PCa) organoids where PCa epithelial cells (LNCaP, DuCaP, LAPC4) were cultured alone or with PCa-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in 96 well hanging drop plates in order to...

Background: Obesity is a major risk factor to develop heart failure, in part due to possible lipotoxic effects of increased intramyocardial (MYCL) and/or pericardial (PERI) lipid accumulation. Recent evidence suggests that MYCL is highly dynamic and might rather be a surrogate marker for disturbed energy metabolism than the underlying cause of cardiac dysfunction. On the other hand, PERI might contribute directly by mechanic and paracrine effects. Therefore, we hypothesized th...

Objective: Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (GEP-NENs) are rare and heterogeneous in their tumor biology. Therapeutic options to prevent growth and dissemination are still not satisfactory. As shown previously, survivin and aurora kinases (members of the mitotic chromosomal passenger complex) play a role in cell cycle progression; FOXM1 is a transcription factor that regulates G2/M progression and is associated with grading and metastasis in GEP-NENs. Aurora kina...

Introduction and Objective: Adult craniopharyngioma as a rare neoplasm of the central nervous system is still very poorly understood. The clinical implications for affected patients are numerous, ranging from endocrine dysfunction to visual loss and neurological impairment. Although the progress of this tumor entity is slow by nature, affected patients often suffer from multiple symptoms even after successful treatment with a strong impact on their individual quality of life. ...

It is known that functional hypothalamic amenorrhea is associated with low bone turnover due to low gonadal homone levels. Estrogens are critical for activation of bone remodelling units, suppression of bone reabsorption, increase of 1-25(OH)Vitamin D receptors expression. Other mechanisms could be operative, including improper diet and unbalanced exercise; however the physiopathology of such a condition is not entirely known. In order to evaluate the correlation between pitui...

Introduction: Work-up of thyroid nodules remains challenging. At present, many patients with thyroid nodules are referred to surgery for diagnostic rather than therapeutic purposes. Therefore, the value of non-invasive diagnostic methods to optimize the selection of patients for surgery is needed. Strain elastography (SE) enables the determination of tissue elasticity and has shown promising results for the differentiation of thyroid nodules.Methods: The...

Objective: To characterise insulinoma diagnosed and treated in the period 1983–2014 in various hospitals in Spain.Methods: Inclusion criteria were the presence of biochemical and morphological criteria compatible with insulinoma and/or histologic demonstration of tumour.Results: Twenty-nine patients (23 women (79.3%); mean age 48.7±17.4 years (range, 16–74)) were recruited. In 26 (89.7%) cases the tumor was sporadic ...

Context: Ipilimumab is a human monoclonal antibody against cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), which enhances stimulation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes, resulting in an immune response against the tumour. This drug-induced hyperactivity of the immune system can lead to serious adverse effects including endocrine disorders such as autoimmune hypophysitis, thyroiditis and adrenal insufficiency.Objective: To report our experience on ipilimumab-induced h...

Introduction: Heterozygous inactivating mutations of the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) gene cause mild alterations in calcium metabolism (familiar hypocalciuric hypercalcemia (FHH)). However, in addition to the parathyroid gland CaSR expression was recently identified in the myocardium and many other endocrine cells including pancreatic islet cells, entero-endocine cells and adipose tissue. So far, it is unknown whether FHH is associated with cardio-metabolic altera...

Background: Aldosterone levels are elevated in normal pregnancy but fall despite volume contraction in preeclampsia. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) have been implicated in this phenomenon in vitro and in animal work. Low placental growth factor (PlGF), which is closely linked to VEGF signalling, identifies women at risk of preeclampsia between 20 and 35 weeks gestation. We aimed to examine these relationships ...