Endocrine Abstracts

Several reports of Graves’ disease (GD) onset after COVID-19 vaccination were recently published. The mechanism underlying GD occurrence in these cases could be related to the autoimmune syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA), a condition triggered by several vaccine adjuvants and excipients leading to dysfunctional immune response causing different conditions and endocrinopathies in genetically predisposed subjects. In Italy, population campaign for COVID-19 vaccination st...

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a rare malignancy of the thyroid gland. MTCs originate from thyroid-C cells and account for 2-4% of all thyroid neoplasms. Originating from thyroid-C cells, the main secretory product of MTCs is calcitonin, used as sensitive and specific MTC-biomarker. Calcitonin is a hormone known to participate in calcium-bone metabolism suppressing bone-resorption by inhibiting the activity of osteoclasts, and inhibiting the kidney reabsorption of calcium a...

A 73 years old man came to our observation for severe dysphagia and loss of weight (10 kg in 1 month). About 30 years before he had myocardial infarction and he underwent coronary artery bypass graft. One week before the first medical evaluation, patient suspended all drugs per os because he could not swallow pills and food. Thyroid function test revealed a severe hyperthyroidism (FT3 11.9 pg/ml; FT4 40 pg/ml; TSH <0.01 μU/ml). Anti-TSH ...

Hypocalcemia has been recently identified as a major biochemical distinctive feature of COVID-19, predicting poor clinical outcomes. Besides the calcium-dependent viral mechanisms of action and the enhanced cellular permeability to calcium ions, we previously hypothesized that hypovitaminosis-D could be a predisposing factor to hypocalcemia. Actually, high prevalence of vitamin D (VD) deficiency in COVID-19 patients (pts) was reported by several studies, but, to date, only few...