Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The typical biochemical phenotype related to obesity, that is high serum TSH within normal range, low/normal free thyroxine (FT4) and increased free triiodothyronine (FT3) levels, can be interpreted as a resistance to thyroid hormones. It is unclear the role played by thyroid hormones in the pathogenesis of metabolic derangement associated with obesity. Aim: To investigate the association between thyroid hormones sensitivity and cardio-metabo...

Several lines of evidence indicate an increased risk of adverse gestational outcomes in women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) already as of TSH levels at early pregnancy >2.5mU/l, and definitely greater for TSH concentration >4mU/l. The latest guidelines recommend preconception TSH levels (pre-C-TSH) in HT women be maintained below 2.5mU/l, this threshold being expected to prevent hypothyroidism occurrence at early gestation.Objectives: To...

Background: IL-37, member of the IL-1 family, is a natural suppressor of immune and inflammatory responses. Increased serum IL-37 levels were observed in several autoimmune diseases, including Graves’ disease. No data on TH are available from the literature.Materials and methods: We enrolled 45 euthyroid HT patients (5 M e 40 F, mean age 38.5±12.6) and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. None was on LT-4 therapy. Smokers, subjects with ki...

Objective: Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several immune-mediated disorders, including autoimmune thyroid disease. Aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between dietary habit and redox homeostasis, in relationship with thyroid autoimmunity.Materials and methods: We enrolled 200 healthy subjects (173 F, mean age 35 ± 12). None of them was under any pharmacological treatment. Exclusion criteria: any infectio...

Evidences suggest that environmental contaminants exposure and/or the impairment of intracellular xenobiotic metabolizing system could affect pituitary pathophysiology. Glutathione-S-transferase-P1 (GSTP1) gene encodes for an enzyme that is involved in cellular detoxification mechanisms. GSTP1 altered activity or expression has been reported in some tumours.We aimed to assess the GSTP1 gene promoter methylation status in acromegaly patients and its contr...

: Patients with Cushing’s disease (CD) have increased cardiovascular risk due to metabolic alterations caused by glucocorticoids excess. Pasireotide, a multireceptor-targeted somatostatin analogue, is a therapeutic option in CD patients in whom surgery is not curative or not feasible. Pasireotide has been shown to be effective in controlling hypercortisolism and to improve metabolic features. Recently, the visceral adiposity index (VAI) has been proposed as a marker of vi...

The Pro12Ala and His447His polymorphisms of PPAR-γ, and Gly972Arg polymorphism of IRS-1 have been implicated in insulin resistance (IR) and adiposity. In this study, we investigated the possible influence of these polymorphisms on metabolic features of 53 PCOS women compared with 26 healthy women (controls). All women underwent a clinical, anthropometric and biochemical evaluation, including a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test; insulin secretion and sensitivity indices wer...