Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Pheochromocytomasand paragangliomas are tumors derived from chromaffin cells which result from mutations of at least six different genes as autosomal dominant disorders.Aim: To evaluate the existence of correlations between genetic alterations and clinical data in 16 patients with pheochromocytomas and/or paragangliomas.Methods: From 2007 to 2009, 13 patients with pheochromocytoma [3 men, medium age 39 years (14&#8211...

Triorganotins, such as tributyltin (TBT), are environmental contaminants commonly found in antifouling paints that are used on the ships and other vessels. Unfortunately, these chemical are also suspected to cause endocrine-disrupting effects in mammals, due in part to their possible transfer through marine food chains and to the consumption of contaminated seafood. The importance of triorganotins as environmental endocrine disruptors in different animal models is well known; ...

Connexins are a proteins critically involved in the formation of gap junction, which connect cells with each other and enable the exchange of small compounds and, besides having a role independently of gap junction formation. At least, in the anterior pituitary two cellular networks have already been identified, one of them is composed of the endocrine inactive folliculo-stellate cells and the second one is the GH-producing somatotroph cell network. It is supposed that gap jun...

Background: Von Hippel Lindau Disease (VHL) is an autosomal dominant inherited syndrome characterized by high susceptibility to the development of a wide spectrum of benign and malignant, endocrine and non-endocrine neoplasias in diverse organs of patients harboring a germline mutation in VHL tumor suppressor gene. The major clinical manifestations of VHL are brain, cerebellar and spinal cord hemangioblastoma, retinal angioma, pheochromocytoma, renal cell carcinoma an...

Proper classification of pituitary adenomas (PA) is an important area of research. Thus, developing of new biomarkers is essential to facilitate the early detection of PA, identify the drug response and predict recurrence reliably in all patients. The usual histological markers of tumor aggressiveness and/or invasiveness are often similar between recurring, regrowing, and stable tumors, and therefore are not reliable as prognostic parameters. To quantitate the levels of the HM...