Endocrine Abstracts

An 18-year old male presented with galactorrhoaea and obesity. PRL measured 16,630 mU/l, FSH 6.0 U/l, LH 5.0 U/l, testosterone 8.6 nmol/l, SHBG 15.0 nmol/l, IGF-1 22.0 nmol/l and TSH 1.39 mU/l. Several 24-hour urinary free cortisol estimations excluded hypercortisolism. Short synacthen test confirmed an intact HPA axis. Visual fields were full. Pituitary-MRI revealed a large adenoma extending into the right cavernous sinus without suprasellar extension. PRL started declining u...

The cytokine IL-6 is synthesed and released by over half of surgically removed human pituitary adenomas and by the HP75 human pituitary tumour cell line. We have previously shown that IL6 is associated with tumour invasiveness but not with Ki67, a marker of cell proliferation. Membrane IL6R (mIL6R) has been demonstrated in some pituitary adenomas, however, we have shown that sIL6R is not shed by the majority (92%) of human pituitary adenomas in culture nor by HP75 cells(super)...