Endocrine Abstracts

We have collected an extensive record of more than 8000 patients with a thyroid carcinoma over the years 1946–2005. In all cases, the diagnosis was done by the histology examination carried by a pathologist. Those records were classified by their dimension and the extent of the thyroid gland. This classification is used as a basis for the treatment decision. Tumors of the bigger size needs radiotherapy with I 131 whereas the smaller tumors are subject of observation and r...

Familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (FMTC) is an autosomal dominant inherited disease, characterized by germ-line mutations in the RET proto-oncogene, mainly in exons 10 and 11, but also in exons 13, 14 and 15. Recently, there were described also mutations in exon 8 and 16 associated with FMTC. In our laboratory the screening of six risk exons of the RET proto-oncogene in 141 families with MTC was performed. 10 families were classified as clinically FMTC. In 4 of them mutatio...

Adult GH deficiency (GHD) is associated with prediabetes and low levels of GH are found in obesity. We hypothesized that zinc-α2-glycoprotein (ZAG), a novel adipokine reduced in obesity, is regulated by GH. ZAG serum and adipose tissue expression were measured in three study populations: i) cachectic (BMI=19.3±0.5 kg/m2), lean/overweight (BMI=26.0±0.5 kg/m2) and obese (BMI=36.0±1.6 kg/m2) patients with chronic obstructive pu...

Introduction: Activating point mutations in the RAS genes (H-RAS, K-RAS, N-RAS) are reported in thyroid tumors. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of RAS mutations in 98 patients with thyroid tumors.Methods: DNA was extracted from 72 fresh frozen thyroid samples and 26 paraffin-embedded formalin-fixed samples. The cohort contained 83 PTCs (56 FVPTCs, 14 mixed follicular-classical types, 11 classical variants and two other rare variants)...