Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary adenomas are frequent intracranial tumors that often associate with the hypersecretion of pituitary hormones or may be non-secreting (nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, NFPA). Tumors resembling human NFPAs develop with complete penetrance in rats affected by the multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome, MENX. This syndrome is caused by a germline loss of function mutation in p27Kip1. Gene expression array analysis performed in our group identified a considera...

Phaeochromocytomas (PCs) are neuroendocrine tumors derived from neural crest-derived chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla and sympathetic ganglia.About 10% of all PCs can be malignant.Currently, there is no effective therapy for malignant PCs.In many neuroendocrine tumors, including PCs, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR survival pathway is hyperactivated. Therefore, the inhibition of this signaling cascade may exert an a...

Phaeochromocytomas (PCs) are neuroendocrine tumors derived from neural crest-derived chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla and sympathetic ganglia (the latter referred to as paragangliomas), which produce significant amounts of catecholamines. Although PCs are mostly benign, 10% of all PCs can be malignant evidenced by the presence of metastases, predominantly in bone, lungs, liver and lymph. Currently, there is no effective therapy for malignant PCs.I...

Background: Invasive nonfunctioning (NF) pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are non-resectable neoplasms associated to frequent relapse and significant comorbidities. As current treatments often fail against NF-PitNETs, identifying actionable therapeutic targets is essential. We focused on the angiopoietin-2 (Angpt2)/Tie2 axis, usually active in endothelial cells (ECs).Methods: ANGPT2 plasma levels in NF-PitNET patients and healthy controls were m...