Endocrine Abstracts

Epidemiological data clearly evidence a protective role of estrogens against the development of colon cancer and ERβ has been identified as the predominant ER subtype in human colon. More recently it has been identified as a favourable prognostic marker in this disease, possibly explaining the protective effect of estrogens against colon cancer development. To understand the specific role and mechanism of action of ERβ in colon tumorigenesis we developed an in vit...

Thyroid hormones (TH) synthesis requires iodine, a scarce element whose recycling is mediated by the iodotyrosine dehalogenase (encoded by the DEHAL1 gene) through deiodination of mono- and di-iodotyrosines. In humans, biallelic mutations in DEHAL1 lead to a severe form of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) non detectable by neonatal screening programs, which involves the risk of mental retardation. The timing and triggering factors of this particular type of hyp...

Introduction: Ghrelin is an orexigenic hormone with two isoforms: Acyl Ghrelin (AG) and Desacyl Ghrelin (DAG). AG binds to its specific receptor GHS-R1 and stimulates growth hormone secretion. DAG also binds to GHS-R1 receptor, but with 1000 times less affinity than AG. Effect of DAG on cell proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis has been reported. However, there are no studies of DAG function in human placenta. For first time, this work analyzed the effect of DAG on viabil...

Introduction: Several studies have demonstrated a high incidence of vertebral fractures (VF) in acromegaly, not always correlated with bone mineral density (BMD) value adquired by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). At trabecular level, GH may alter bone microarchitecture (BM) that predisposes to bone fragility. Trabecular Bone Score (TBS), a textural parameter applied to DEXA to evaluate BM, could be useful to predict VF risk in these patients.Materials a...

Introduction: Pasireotide Lar is a new generation long-acting somatostatin multireceptor ligand, approved for the treatment of first line somatostatin analogue resistant patients. We aimed to review Pasireotide Lar efficacy data, in our series of patients affected by aggressive acromegaly.Patients: A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted on patients with aggressive acromegaly, resistant to first-line somatostatin analogues (SSA) and on treatment...

Background: Testis stimulation with follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) is one of the empirical treatments proposed for male idiopathic infertility, although early reliable markers to predict its efficacy are still lacking.Objective: To identify the improvement of semen parameters required to predict a priori FSH efficacy in terms of pregnancy achievement.Methods: A real-world study was conducted, enrolling idiopathic infer...

Background: Gastric neuroendocrine tumors (gNETs) are relatively uncommon. Represent up to 23% of all digestive neuroendocrine neoplasms. The majority are incidentally diagnosed from histology of ‘simple’ gastric polyps identified at endoscopy. There are 3 groups of gNETs: types 1, 2 and 3 with different pathogeneses, biological and clinical behaviors. It is worth mentioning that recent reports suggest a fourth type of gNETs1. Type I represents 75–80%...

Introduction: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) of somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (SST2) is a predictive factor for first-generation somatostatin receptor ligand (fg-SRL) response in acromegaly patients. A semi-quantitative immunoreactivity score, IRS, has been proposed as the gold-standard to evaluate SST2 IHC expression. Recently, our group developed a quantitative method to determine SST2 expression using an open-source digital image analysis (DIA...

Alternative splicing is a crucial mechanism of gene regulation and this process can be dysregulated in cancer. In pituitary tumors (PitNETs), alteration in the serine/arginine-rich splicing factors (SRSFs) has been reported. Newly synthetized SRSFs are phosphorylated by serine-arginine protein kinase 1 (SRPK1) to facilitate their nuclear import. In response to extracellular stimuli SRPK1 may translocate to the nucleus as well to hyperphosphorylate SRSFs and favor their interac...

Introduction: Adults with growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) have increased prevalence of hepatic steatosis (HS) that might be improved by growth hormone replacement therapy (rhGH). However, data on this topic are conflincting and scanty. Aim: to evaluate prevalence of HS, organ-specific distribution of adipose tissue and cardiovascular impairment in AGHD.Methods: cross-sectional collection of clinical, biochemical and instrumental data (abdominal ultrasou...