Endocrine Abstracts

Adrenocortical cancer (ACC) is a rare and aggressive malignancy. Currently the main therapeutic option is surgery, but due to difficult and delayed diagnosis and to the onset of metastases, medical therapy is often tried. ACC treatment is mainly represented by Mitotane alone or in association with chemotherapy, with variable results. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate ACC proliferation could be useful to identify new therapeutic options. Aim of our study is t...

Background and aims: Periodontal disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory condition where the key feature is the alveolar bone loss. Diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor in the occurrence of PD and vitamin D has been found to play a role in the development of diseases such as PD for its immunomoduratory and anti-inflammatory effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between PD and vitamin D levels in type 1 diabetic patients.S...

It is well established that most TSH effects on the thyroid gland, including stimulation of proliferation, thyroid hormone synthesis and expression of thyroid-specific genes, are transmitted mainly by the adenylate cyclise pathway. However, in human follicular cells and in rat FRTL-5 cells, TSH can also stimulate the β-isoforms of PLC that catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidyl-inositol 4,5-phosphate, yielding the second messengers DAG and inositol 1,4,5-phosphate facil...

Bronchial carcinoids (BC) are rare tumors originating from endocrine cells dispersed in the respiratory epithelium. Currently, the main BC treatment is surgery, that can be curative in most of the cases, but is not feasible for large, infiltrating and metastatic disease. In these settings, medical therapy is often tried, being mainly represented by chemotherapy and radiation in the attempt to reduce tumor mass, while somatostatin analogues are employed for symptomatic control....

Introduction: It is believed that hypoglycemia in the elderly is a dangerous condition and may result in stroke and death. We observed five female patients with insulinoma and over 20-year-long survival.Material: The material includes five female with the diagnosis of insulinoma. Patients’ age ranged from 78 to 91 years while disease duration ranged from 21 to 34 years.Methods: In all the patients, the diagnosis of insulinoma ...

IGF1 represents an important growth factor in pituitary physiology and pathology, also mediating the negative feed-back mechanisms on somatotroph axis. It has been previously demonstrated that IGF1 promotes cell viability in primary cultures of human non functioning pituitary adenomas, by a mechanisms involving, at least in part, mTOR signaling, which is involved in many pathways controlling proliferation. We aimed at investigating whether mTOR may mediate IGF1 effects also in...

Introduction: Medical therapy of acromegaly is indicated in patients who failed to achieve remission after surgery, with contraindication or refusal for surgical therapy or following radiotherapy in order to bridge the interval until complete remission.Objective: Evaluate the medical therapy – somatostatin analogs (SSA), dopamine agonist (DAs) and GH receptor-antagonist (Pegvisomant) – in acromegalic patients followed from 1988–2011.<p...

Introduction: Identification of molecular markers with a reliable prognostic value may greatly improve the management of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Rac1b, a hyperactive splice variant of the small GTPase Rac1, was found to be overexpressed in colorectal, breast and lung cancer. It has been shown to sustain tumor cell survival in colorectal cancer and was reported to have a key role in the malignant progression of breast and lung tumors. The Rac1b tumorige...

Aims: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) now affects a significant proportion of young people worldwide. ‘X-borough’ contains a strikingly young, diverse population with one of the highest rates of prevalence for adult T2DM in the UK. Our aims were to determine the prevalence and examine the characteristics of young people with T2DM in this population.Methods: Forty-four young people (<25 years) with T2DM were matched with an equal number of young peop...

Bilateral cervical exploration has been the gold standard in parathyroid surgery. Nowadays, the preoperative localization procedures have facilitated the minimally invasive surgery. This study aims to analyze the influence of thyroid disease in Tc99m-sestamibi scintigraphy (MIBI) results.A series of 154 patients with PHP who underwent parathyroidectomy was reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: group 1 (G1, 58 patients) with thyroid diseases, a...