Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Cushing’s Syndrome (CS) has been associated with bone mass abnormalities and with an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures.Objective: Evaluate the effect of treatment on the 10-year probability of fracture predicted by FRAX® and on the overall bone profile, in patients with CS.Patients and Methods: We evaluated 36 patients (6 M, 30 F, 12 post-menopausal, mean-age 43.6±13.5), 22 with Cushin...

BACKGROUND: The determination of Night Salivary Cortisol (NSC) is a useful survey in the screening for hypercortilosism. Study data about its usefulness, even when different methods of dosage are used, are anyway scarce.OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic performance in the NSC dosage of the chemiluminescence method (CLIA) and of mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).METHODS: Saliva samples were taken at 11:00 pm in 36 healthy volunteers a...

In the light of recent data reporting a high rate of cardiovascular events in Primary Aldosteronism (PA) we investigated whether the Metabolic Syndrome (MS) represents a common feature in patients with PA. A cohort of 86 patients, mean age 51±12 yr was analysed: 59 patients (26 females and 39 males) with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA) and 27 patients (13 females and 14 males) with aldosterone producing adenoma (APA). Anthropometric parameters (height, weight, waist c...

Adiponectin, a recently discovered protein which is secreted by the adipose tissue, exerts anti-inflammatory and anti atherogenic properties, but also promotes glucose uptake by skeletal muscle and fatty acids oxidation. Patients with hypertension and obesity have reduced plasma levels of adiponectin so that they lack its beneficial metabolic effects. However no data are available in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA). In order to investigate the role of the adiponectin ...

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is characterized by development of cardiovascular and metabolic complications. We retrospectively analyzed 78 patients with PA: 29 had aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), and 49 had idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA). The study of complications was performed by examining the lipid and glucose profiles (OGTT, HOMA and Quicki indexes) and the echocardiographic parameters. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the aldosterone synthase (minus 344C/...

Aim: Clinical acromegaly is characterized by high GH secretion in the presence of high circulating IGF-I levels. We therefore hypothesized that the physiological IGF-I-GH negative feedback loop may be reset in somatotroph adenomas, and we investigated the role of type 1 IGF receptor (IGF-R) and GH receptor (GHR) by quantifying mRNA expression in somatotroph tumours, and investigated the possible presence of mutations of the GHR gene.Methods: Pituitary t...

Introduction: The clinical features and complications of Cushing’s syndrome result from chronic excess of circulating cortisol, typically quantified by 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC). LCI699 is a potent inhibitor of 11β-hydroxylase. Since 11β-hydroxylase catalyzes the final step of cortisol synthesis, LCI699 is a potential new treatment for all forms of Cushing’s syndrome.Methods: Adult patients with mild-to-severe Cushing’s di...