Endocrine Abstracts

Puberty marks the transition period from childhood into adulthood with the attainment of adult reproductive capacity. Timing of puberty exhibit marked interindividual variation and depends on genetic and lifestyle factors. Onset of puberty has started earlier during the last 20 years, which cannot be attributed to genetic factors. Thus, lifestyle and environmental factors must be responsible for these worrying trends....

Jens Juul, Holst, Professor of Medical Physiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark AbstractJens Holst, is a Professor of Medical Physiology at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. He is also the Vice Chairman of the board of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, Chairman of the Faculty's Research Center for Diabetes and Obesity and Director at Marie Krogh Center for M...

Klinefelter syndrome (KS) which affects 1–2- per 1000 males, is not only challenging for the patients and their families. Professionals, who manage KS patients need a much better scientific foundation for decision making in patient care. Surprisingly little research on how to manage boys, adolescents and men with KS has been carried out in comparison to management of other clinical problems like, e.g. Turner syndrome. One of the problems has been that management, which mu...

Klinefelter syndrome (KS; 47,XXY) is the most common sex chromosome disorder in man, affecting approximately 1:660 men, and is a common cause of infertility.Patients with KS are characterized by tall stature and progressive testicular failure. This results in azoospermia and androgen deficiency with an accompanying risk of developing several phenotypic characteristics in adulthood, e.g., osteopenia or even frank osteoporosis, and metabolic syndrome.<...

Objective: Growth hormone (GH) activity might be implicated in male reproductive function. One previous study has suggested significantly reduced semen quality in untreated acromegalic patients due to both reduced sperm counts and motility.Design and methods: A retrospective study comprising 10 uncontrolled hypogonadal acromegalic patients (median age 29y) who delivered semen for cryopreservation before initiation of testosterone therapy. Semen ...

Introduction: Gonadotropins from the pituitary gland are essential for testosterone production and spermatogenesis. However, little is known about semen quality in patients with adult onset gonadotropin insufficiency.Aim: To investigate semen quality in men with adult onset hypogonadotropic hypogonadism requiring testosterone replacement therapy.Patients and method: A single center study comprising all hypogonadal men with pituitar...

Somapacitan is a long-acting growth hormone (GH) intended for once-weekly subcutaneous administration. As for GH, the mechanism of action of somapacitan is either directly or indirectly via insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). A PK/PD model of somapacitan was developed from the pharmacokinetics (PK) and IGF-I levels from three phase 1 trials data: a single dose/multiple dose trial (0.02–0.24 mg/kg per week) in healthy adults, a multiple dose trial in adults with growth h...

Introduction: A common genetic polymorphism in the GH receptor (GHR) is deletion of the entire exon 3 sequence (GHRd3 isoform). The GHRd3 isoform seems to be more sensitive with increased downstream GH signalling in activated exon 3 deleted receptor dimers (GHRd3/d3) compared to full length receptor dimers (GHRfl/fl). Presence of the GHRd3 isoform might be associated to pre- and postnatal growth and pubertal development in boys, although controversy exists. The aim was to inve...

Background: GH receptors are present in ovaries and GH may have a physiological role for ovarian function and development.Objective and hypothesis: The objective of this study was to examine pubertal development and ovarian growth and differentiation during GH therapy.Methods: Clinical characteristics, reproductive hormones and ultrasonographic examination of the internal genitals were determined in 18 prepubertal girls during 3 ye...

Introduction: The GH/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) system may modulate the pituitary-gonadal axis in males. Direct pituitary and/or testicular effects might be involved, as well as indirect effects on sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and aromatase activity.Methods/design: Nine healthy male volunteers (mean age 37, range 29–49 years) were treated in random order with increasing doses of GH for three weeks (1st week 0.01, 2nd week 0.02, 3rd 0...