Endocrine Abstracts

Mrs SP was a 50-year old patient who presented with typical features of Cushing’s syndrome in 2003 and proceeded to pituitary surgery. Following this she was not cured, and elected to have a bilateral adrenalectomy. Following this, she was initially commenced on hydrocortisone 30 mg daily taken as 15 mg in the morning, 10 mg at noon and 5 mg at 1600 h, and fludrocortisone 100 μg daily. She continued on this for 10 years, but switched her glucocorticoid replacement to...

We here report the cases of two patients receiving glucocorticoid replacement, whose treatment has been guided by serum prednisolone measurements and whose day curves are presented below. Ms B was a 33-year-old patient who presented 3 years ago with panhypopituitarism following transsphenoidal surgery in 2012, for a sellar mass in a foreign country. She had already commenced 5mg prednisolone daily in addition to DDAVP, levothyroxine and the COCP. Having noticed mild weight gai...

Background: Kisspeptin stimulates hypothalamic GnRH secretion resulting in gonadotrophin release and has the potential as a future therapeutic for infertility. Previous studies have observed that kisspeptin increases LH and to a lesser degree FSH when administered to healthy women, which may limit its therapeutic potential. However, studies in women with hypothalamic amenorrhoea show that i.v. infusions of kisspeptin-54 stimulated both LH and FSH equally. Chronic s.c. infusion...

Case: A 19-year-old British-Asian man presented with a two-year history of gynaecomastia. He had no other symptoms of hypogonadism. On examination, BMI was 28 kg/m2 and he had post-pubertal-sized testes (20 ml) with normal secondary sexual characteristics. Hypogonadism was confirmed by two morning fasting total testosterone levels of 4.7 and 5.2 (RR 9.2–31.6 nmol/l). Haemoglobin was normal (152 g/l) and serum oestradiol was <100 pmol/l. He had inappropriate...

Clinical Endocrinology 2016 84 939–945. DOI: 10.1111/cen.12603...

Background: Hot flushes (HF) affect 70% of menopausal women and can be debilitating. Oestrogen administration is effective but not without risk. Neurokinin B signalling is increased in menopausal women, and is likely critical in the aetiology of their HF. We therefore hypothesised that a neurokinin 3 receptor (NK3R) antagonist could attenuate menopausal flushing.Design: This single-centre, phase 2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover ...

Clinical Endocrinology 2016 84 939–945. DOI: 10.1111/cen.12603...

Background: Hot flushes (HF) affect 70% of menopausal women and can be debilitating. Oestrogen administration is effective but not without risk. Neurokinin B signalling is increased in menopausal women, and is likely critical in the aetiology of their HF. We therefore hypothesised that a neurokinin 3 receptor (NK3R) antagonist could attenuate menopausal flushing.Design: This single-centre, phase 2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover ...

Introduction: Hypothalamic amenorrhoea (HA) is a condition characterised by reduced GnRH pulsatility and is a common cause of anovulatory subfertility. Kisspeptin is an endogenous neuropeptide that regulates hypothalamic GnRH function. Hypothalamic kisspeptin expression is reduced, and kisspeptin receptor expression is increased, in a rodent model of HA. The kisspeptin analogue MVT-602 has a 3-4-fold longer half-life than native kisspeptin-54 (t1/2 0.5 h). We invest...

Background: Hot flushes affect 70% of menopausal women, can be long-lasting, and often severely impact on physical, psychosocial, sexual, and overall wellbeing. Hormone replacement therapy is effective but not without risk. Neurokinin B is an important mediator of hot flushes in rodents and elevated hypothalamic expression occurs in menopausal women. Neurokinin B acts via the neurokinin 3 receptor. We therefore hypothesised that neurokinin 3 receptor antagonism could be a nove...