Endocrine Abstracts

The Austrian Acromegaly Registry is an initiative of the Austrian Society for Endocrinology and Metabolism. This database includes 607 patients (54% females) followed in twelve centers. Mean treatment period is 10.7 years (range 0–50 years), the total number of patient-years is 6470. Here we report gender-specific differences in the presentation, therapy and biochemical control of acromegaly in patients included in this registry.Mean age at diagnosi...

The transcription factor and proto-oncogene GLI1 is the terminal mediator of the Hedgehog signalling pathway which is involved in developmental processes, stem cell maintenance and cell proliferation. Although the pathway is mainly active during embryogenesis and tissue repair, it is frequently reactivated in several cancer types.Based on these findings we investigated the potential role of GLI1 in the pathogenesis of pituitary adenomas. GLI1 expression ...

We present data on open reading frame 62 encoded on human chromosome 6 (C6orf62), a gene whose protein expression and function has not been described to date. The gene product of C6orf62 was designated pituitary associated regulator of hormone secretion (PARS).Initial gene expression screens showed that PARS transcription is differentially regulated in secreting and non-secreting pituitary adenomas, as well as in normal pituitary tissue. Inspired ...

Glucocorticoid feed-back in pituitary corticotrophs represses POMC transcription and ACTH release. Serum and glucocorticoid-induced kinase 1 (Sgk1) has been identified as an immediate early target of glucocorticoids in many tissues, however its expression and function in corticotrophs are unknown.We show here that Sgk1 is present in the human pituitary gland at both mRNA and protein levels. Double-immunohistochemistry revealed that Sgk1 is expressed in d...

Introduction: In patients with cured Cushing’s syndrome, comorbidities often persist after remission of glucocorticoid excess. Here we investigate long-term comorbidities in patients with Cushing’s syndrome in remission, and their relationship to metabolic and hormonal markers at the initial diagnosis of the disease.Methods/design: We evaluated 118 patients with cured Cushing’s syndrome (55 Cushing’s disease, 55 adrenal Cushing’s...

We have recently shown that patients with growth hormone (GH) excess (acromegaly) exhibit inadequately low intrahepatic lipid content (IHL) despite marked insulin resistance. GH might increase mitochondrial oxidation capacity thereby counteracting ectopic lipid accumulation; however, up-regulation of mitochondrial function has been reported in early stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Up to now, data on mitochondrial activity in patients with acromegaly are missing.</...

Introduction: Cushing’s syndrome is associated with significant chronic and acute complications including acute thromboembolic and cardiovascular events. We aimed to study the prevalence and predictors of acute and perioperative complications in patients with active Cushing’s syndrome.Methods: The prevalence, predictors and outcomes of acute, life-threatening and perioperative complications were evaluated in a cohort of patients with active b...