Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: GH replacement therapy currently requires daily injections, which may cause poor compliance and distress for patients. CTP-modified hGH (MOD-4023) is being developed for once-weekly administration in GH Deficient adults and children. The present study evaluated the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of MOD-4023 in GHD adults.Design and methods: 39 normalized GHDA patients currently treated with daily GH were randomized and...

The leptin receptor (ObR) exists in multiple isoforms. In humans, there is no mRNA encoding soluble receptor (LBP). We investigated the hypothesis that human LBP can be generated by proteolytic cleavage of membrane anchored leptin receptors (ObRb and ObRa). LBP, of similar size to that previously detected in human serum, was detected in medium of cells transfected with ObRa by HPLC, Immunofluorometric assay, and Ligand mediated immunofluorometric assay, but not by ELISA. The L...

Recent studies indicating that normokaliemic primary aldosteronism (PA) is a more frequent cause of hypertension than previously expected led to an increased interest in biochemical screening strategies. We investigated biochemical diagnostic strategies used in different academic centres for patients documented in the German National Conn’s Registry. Data from 7 centres in 5 cities have been entered into a database by trained personnel. For analysis, results from 522 pati...

Background: Of the currently available treatment regimes for acromegaly, pegvisomant (PEG-V) has the highest efficacy. During PEG-V treatment, GH serum levels increase. The exact mechanism behind this is remains unclear. It could be explained by an ultra-short feedback loop via GH receptors in the anterior pituitary gland.Objective: To assess the level of GH receptor (GHR) mRNA expression in somatotroph adenomas and to evaluate whether GHR blockade by PE...

The purpose of our study was to establish an assay for the measurement of aldosterone in saliva which utilises a simple, non-invasive sampling technique on an out-patient basis. For this we have developed a non-isotopic, time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay. The assay only requires a volume of 100 μl for each duplicate value obtained and involves an overnight incubation after extraction of samples. Cross-reactivity with potentially interfering steroids is below 0.01%. T...

Performance enhancing substances enjoy considerable popularity among athletes, particularly if deemed undetectable. Doping with growth hormone has been considered undetectable until recently. Two strategies have been pursued to detect GH doping: Pharmacological endpoints and GH isoform composition.For the former approach the consortium GH 2000/2004 has identified markers of GH action and found a combination of parameters from the IGF-system and collagen ...

Introduction: GH substitution in GH deficiency (GHD) must be subcutaneously administered daily. Recently, a new sustained release formulation of GH (LB03002) has been developed which has to be injected only once per week. As a sub-study to the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter, phase-III-study we performed this prospective study to evaluate influences of the new GH formulation on metabolic parameters and the hormones leptin and ghrelin in adult patients...

Nadir growth hormone (GH) levels after oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) as well as random insulin-like growth-factor I (IGF-I) levels, given as multiples of the upper limit of normal [xULN], were used to evaluate biochemical activitiy of acromegalic patients. The development of new, more sensitive GH assays makes it necessary to reevaluate the cut off values of the GH nadir after OGTT.In a cross sectional study, we evaluated nadir GH concentrations dur...

Introduction: Patients with craniopharyngeoma often have disturbances of the hypothalamic–pituitary axis and serious comorbidities as obesity. We hypothesized, that the pattern of hormones regulating the nutritional status is worsened in adult patients with craniopharyngioma (CP) compared to adult patients with non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA).Methods: We included 33 patients with CP (m=16, f=17, median age: 48 years (26–7...

Introduction: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent curable form of hypertension. Hypokalemia is a late symptom of PA. Consequently, PA often is not diagnosed for many years. Our aim was to identify clinical and laboratory parameters in a large cohort of PA patients obtained during their first assessment.Methods: 96 consecutive patients prospectively studied since 2008 at the German Conn’s Registry Center in Munich were eligible for this s...