Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Patients with acromegaly present increased insulin resistance despite reduced adipose tissue (AT) mass. Growth hormone (GH) stimulates lipolysis, but the role of AT as a metabolic factor in patients with acromegaly is still uncertain. Moreover, there is a need for better biomarkers of disease activity in acromegaly.Methods: RNA-sequencing was performed on paired subcutaneous AT (SAT) biopsies from patients (n=6) with active acromegaly...

Pituitary dwarfism has been known for many decades, originally as a component of organic panhypopituitarism. GH for clinical use was purified by Maurice Raben from human cadaveric pituitaries and tested for the first time and with success in 1957 in a patient with childhood onset disease. Moreover, pivotal short term studies on the metabolic effects were performed in both healthy and hypopituitary adults. The concomitant introduction of imunnoassays for GH led to the introduct...

Transsphenoidal surgery is preferred as primary therapy for acromegaly, but cure or acceptable disease control with this modality is obtained in <60%, and in some cases surgery is not eligible. Second-line treatment with long-acting somatostatin analogues (SA) is successful in ~60%. This treatment offers tumor shrinkage in addition to lowering of GH and IGF-I in most patients. A potential concern is impairment of glucose tolerance due to the concomitant suppression of insu...

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypercortisolism associated with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) share clinical characteristics such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia, hyperglycaemia, and obesity. Several studies have recorded a relatively high prevalence of hypercortisolism in T2D, which may have therapeutic implications. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the prevalence of hypercortisolism in T2D patients.Methods: Origina...

Background: The differential diagnosis of the polyuria-polydipsia syndrome is challenging. The water-deprivation test is the current gold standard, but the test is cumbersome, and the diagnostic performance is poor. Copeptin, which is a split product of the vasopressin pre-propeptide, appears to be a robust biomarker in the circulation and a promising tool for the diagnosis of patients with polyuria and polydipsia, especially when measured in conjunction with intravenous infus...

Introduction: Patients planned for first time surgery for clinically non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) were included in this prospective study.Aims: – To study the prevalence of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis failure preoperatively and 3 months after surgery for clinically NFPA.– To investigate factors predicting risk of HPA axis failure postoperatively.Hypotheses<p class="abst...

Background: Long-term safety data (1998 to mid-2016) are reported for adult patients with GHD treated with GH (Norditropin® (somatropin), Novo Nordisk) as prescribed by treating physicians in the real-life clinical setting and enrolled in NordiNet® International Outcome Study (IOS) (NCT00960128), a non-interventional, multicentre study.Objective and hypotheses: To describe and report safety data and incidence rates (IRs) (...

Background: Patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI) exhibit increased morbidity, mortality and impaired quality of life (QoL) and conventional hydrocortisone replacement does not mimic the endogenous circadian pattern and may compromise adherence. A modified – release hydrocortisone formulation (Plenadren) for once-daily use is licensed in order to meet these needs.Objective: To audit the effects of treatment change from HC to Plenadren in an out-p...

Context: Obesity is accompanied by blunted GH secretion but relatively normal serum IGF-I levels, which suggests increased GH sensitivity. This, however, remains to be tested at the level of GH signaling in human subjects.Objective: To compare the effects of an acute intravenous GH bolus in obese vs normal weight subjects on GH signaling pathways in adipose and muscle tissue, substrate metabolism and insulin sensitivity.Subjects an...

Context: The nadir serum GH level during glucose suppression (OGTT) is recommended in patients treated by surgery, but not during SA treatment. We have shown that patients considered controlled by SA don’t suppress serum GH during OGTT and have impaired disease-specific QoL as compared to patients controlled by surgery. We hypothesize SA treated patients also don’t suppress GH in response to mixed meals.Aim: To compare GH levels during two mixe...