Endocrine Abstracts

Pregnancy is a puzzling phenomenon for researches as it defies the rules of immunology. The immune system of a pregnant woman is able to both tolerate the foreign while being alert to possible harm. It is now known that paternal antigens expressed by the fetus are not ignored but actively tolerated by the maternal immune system. Pregnancy hormones may have a pivotal role on the modulation of immune cell functions. We have described the important participation of the pregnancy ...

Addison’s disease (AD), also known as primary adrenal insufficiency, is caused by destruction or dysfunction of the adrenal cortex, resulting in hypocortisolism. The usual clinical features of chronic AD are non-specific and include fatigue, nausea, vomiting and hyperpigmentation. We describe the case of a 58-year-old African black male with AD presenting with recurring severe hypoglycaemia. The patient was admitted several times to the emergency department with hypoglyca...

Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) is a rare group of genetic disorders characterised by end-organ resistance to parathyroid hormone (PTH). We describe the case of a 34-year-old Caucasian female with severe hypocalcaemia presenting with a first generalised seizure. Her medical history was significant for bilateral cataract. She had three healthy children, and no family history of note. On examination, she had positive Chvostek’s sign. Biochemical analysis showed serum calcium...

Introduction: Nrf2 (Nfe2l2) is a transcription factor that regulates a series of cytoprotective and antioxidant enzymes. Upon exposure to oxidative or electrophilic stress, Nrf2 enters the nucleus and induces its target genes expression. Follicular thyroid cells have physiologically high levels of reactive oxygen species as oxidation of iodine is essential for iodination of thyroglobulin and thyroid hormones synthesis. We have shown previously that Nrf2 pathway is active in th...

The physiological state of pregnancy is characterised by the tolerance of the maternal immune system towards the paternal alloantigens expressed by the foetus. Recently, CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg) were described to play an essential role for the generation and maintenance of the tolerance state. Several research groups showed that normal pregnancy in humans and mice is associated with an augmentation in the number of Treg in different organs wher...

Introduction: Primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA) and pheochromocytoma are endocrine causes of secondary arterial hypertension. The association of hyperaldosteronism and pheochromocytoma is rare and the involved mechanisms are poorly understood. Either there is coexistence of the two diseases (pheochromocytoma with PHA) or the pheochromocytoma stimulates the production of aldosterone.Case Report: Male, 54 years old, referred to our department for type 2 dia...

Introduction: Diabetes is a disease with great psychosocial impact and reduced quality of life (QoL), and psychosocial factors seem to be excellent predictors of clinical outcomes.Objective: Assess the relationship between the patient’s perception of diabetes management and its impact on QoL.Methods: Interview of patients with type 1 (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), using the ‘Appraisal of Diabetes Scale’ (ADS), a qu...

Insulinoma, a rare neuroendocrine tumor (NET), is benign in more than 90% of cases. We present a review of patients diagnosed with insulinoma at our Department.Methods: Retrospective review of clinical records of patients diagnosed with insulinoma between 2011 and 2016.Results: Six female patients were diagnosed with insulinoma (age at presentation 30–66, follow-up: 0.25–3.25 years). Episodes of sweating, palpitations, tr...

Introduction: Pancreas transplantation is an established treatment for selected patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and severe chronic kidney disease (CKD), reducing mortality and morbidity.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the cases of pancreas transplantation performed at our centre from 1-January-2011 to 30-June-2016.Results: In this period, 53 transplants were performed: 48 simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplants ...

We report the case of a Caucasian woman presenting with a challenging differential diagnosis of ophtalmopathy. The patient was diagnosed with Graves’ disease during postpartum at the age of 28 (TSH<0.001 U/ml; FT3 6.7 ng/dl; FT4 2.2 ng/dl; TSAb 15 U/l). Besides 16 pack-year smoking history, no other previous disease was known. At examination, exophthalmos grade I/III with bilateral lid retraction was evident. Persistency of the disease despite optimal use of medical a...