Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: The treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPI; omeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole) used for gastritis, gastric ulcer, etc. could lead to L-thyroxine (L-T4) malabsorption issues, that is induced by the increased gastric pH. Many factors like age, way of assumption (during breakfast or with food), other drugs interferences, drug-kinetics, adherence to therapy, could impair the L-T4 absorption.Methods: The study involved 27 hypothyroid patie...

Background and aim: Aldosterone-to-Renin Ratio (ARR) is recommended as initial test to screen for Primary Aldosteronism (PA), especially in high-risk hypertensive population. Endocrine Society (ES) Guidelines recommend that patients with an increased ARR should undergo one or more confirmatory tests in order to confirm or exclude PA diagnosis. Captopril Challenge Test (CCT) and Saline Infusion Test (SIT) are commonly used in routine clinical practice. The aim of our study was ...

Unsuspected adrenal masses, or incidentalomas, are increasingly found with the widespread use of thoracic and abdominal imaging. These masses may be hormonally active or nonfunctional and benign or malignant. Clinicians must determine the nature of the mass to decide what treatment, if any, is needed.In our 17 year experience, we observed 232 patients (158 females, 74 males aged 22-91, mean age 69) affected with monolateral incidentaloma. 58 of them (25%...

There are limited data on the natural history of normocalcemic PHPT and it is unclear how the patients should be regarded vis a vis parathyroid surgery. Among the 1500 admissions/year for 10 years referred to our outpatient endocrine clinics for a variety of diseases, we collected 481 subjects with high serum levels of PTH. In the presence of hypercalcemia, a diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism was performed in 127 (26%). Other 354 (74%) subjects were normocalcemic: 186 (...

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare entity characterized by clonal proliferation and accumulation of cells resembling the epidermal dendritic cells called Langerhans cells (distinct margins, pink granular cytoplasm, Birbeck granules at electron microscopy and CD1 positivity by immunocytochemistry). These cells in combination with lymphocytes, eosinophils ad normal hystiocytes form the typical LCH lesions. About half of affected patients have extraskeletal manifestati...

Autoimmune thyroiditis (AT) may occur as a single disease or associated with further endocrine and non endocrine autoimmune diseases (NEAD). Chronic autoimmune gastritis (CAG) is the more frequently associated NEAD. A prevalent Th1-representative pattern of cytokines and chemokines has been described in isolated autoimmune thyroiditis. However, the behaviour of chemokines when AT is associated with CAG is not known. Aim of the study has been to measure serum levels of CXCL10 i...

Introduction: No study has evaluated the effect of cytokines on the prototype beta chemokine (C-C motif) ligand (CCL)2 in Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO), nor of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)alpha activation on this chemokine secretion in fibroblasts or preadipocytes in GO.Design and methods: We have tested the interferon (IFN)gamma and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha effect on CCL2, and for comparison on the prototype alpha chemoki...

Objective: Tablet levothyroxine (L-T4) is the common used therapy for hypothyroidism. In order to assess a good compliance to the therapy, treated patients are monitored with the execution of annual thyroid hormonal test. The stability of TSH levels in hypothyroid patients (with no malabsorption issues), treated with liquid L-T4, compared to that of the patients treated with tablet L-T4, remained a poorly understood topic. This study has the purpose to deepen this issue.<p...

Objective: An enhancement of the response rate has been recently showed in patients with Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) treated with corticosteroids and mycophenolic acid. In GO, retro-orbital cells showed a cytokine-induced secretion of Th1 and Th2 chemokines. Since no data are present in literature about the effect of corticosteroids and mycophenolic acid on the chemokines secretion in GO orbital cells, we aim to deepen out this topic.Methods: We est...

Introduction: The antitumor activity of a novel cyclic amide, CLM94, with anti-VEGFR-2 and antiangiogenic activity, in primary anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) cells in vitro and in vivo, has been studied.Design and Methods: CLM94 was tested: i) in two human cell lines (HMVEC-d, dermal microvascular endothelial cells; 8305C, undifferentiated thyroid cancer) at 0.001–100 mcM; ii) in ATC cells at the concentrations of 10, 30, 50 mcM; iii)...