Endocrine Abstracts

Peter J Fuller, Prince Henry’s Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. AbstractProfessor Fuller is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow at Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne where is the Associate Director and Head of the Steroid Receptor Biology Group. He is also Director of the Endocrinology Unit at the Monash Medical Centre/Southern Health and an Adjunct Professor in Medicine and ...

Introduction: Thyreotropin (TSH) is a glycoprotein containing an alpha-subunit similar to other glycoproteins (LH, FSH, ACTH, HCG) and a unique beta-subunit which reacts with the alpha-subunit in binding to the TSH-receptor. Low TSH levels are usually evidence of primary hyperthyreoidism as in Graves diseases/ toxic goiter or thyroiditis, or a result of secondary hypothyroidism in case of diseases of the pituitary gland. This case shows a rare variant causing apparently low TS...

Case history: A 53-year-old male with melanoma who had a previous surgical excision of his skin lesion in December 2018 was being treated with adjuvant pembrolizumab. In June 2019 his treatment changed to combination immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (ICPi) with ipilimumab and nivolumab due to radiological recurrence.Investigations: There were no pre-ICPi endocrine investigations available. In July 2019, thyroid function tests (TFTs) showed thyroid-sti...

Wound healing and tumour stroma formation are associated with angiogenesis and require interactions of various different cell types. We and others have shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differentiate into fibroblast-/pericyte-like cells and secrete proangiogenic factors. Thyroid hormones act as proangiogenic modulators mediated by non-genomic mechanisms via cell surface receptor integrin αvβ3. The aim of this study is to evaluate the stimulatory activity of T3...

Introduction: The human foetal adrenal gland (HFA) is a highly active endocrine organ, producing large amounts of DHEA and DHEAS. Our understanding of HFA development is limited, however, and species differences mean that animal models are only of partial use. Maternal cigarette smoking is known to increase the post-natal risk of health complications of the foetus, and the mechanisms involved may include effects on the HFA.Aim: To examine normal HFA deve...

Acromegaly causes impaired insulin sensitivity and reduced fat mass. Using acipimox to block lipolysis, the impact of free fatty acids (FFA) on insulin sensitivity in active acromegaly was investigated. 1H MRS was used to quantify triglyceride (TG) content of liver and muscle.Methods: 6 patients with active acromegaly (AA) (5M, age 59 (34–70), IGF-I (ng/ml) (median (range)) (452 (342–1002)) were studied on 2 visits; (i) baseline (BL)...

Attenuation of the adrenocortical response to ACTH in septic shock is a well recognised phenomenon, although the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. The evidence points towards factors in septic serum that dampen the adrenocortical responsiveness. The aim of this work is to investigate the cellular function of adrenocortical cells in septic shock and to determine the components within serum that could influence their function. Septic rat serum was collected from ma...

Paraganglioneuromas producing predominantly dopamine are very rare. Such tumours are potentially malignant and often tend to have atypical clinical presentation. Majority of the patients are normotensive and tumours are detected incidentally on imaging studies. We report a case of dopamine secreting – malignant paraganglioneuroma with spinal metastasis. A 65-year-old man was referred to the endocrinology clinic after an incidental finding of large right para-adrenal mass ...

Endocrine manifestations of arachnoid cysts, including suprasellar arachnoid cysts(SAC) are not well recognized. The effect of neurosurgical interventions on such manifestations is also not well reported. Here in we report a case of a young man with hypothalamic dysfunction secondary to SAC who made a good recovery after surgical treatment of the cyst.A 22-yr-old man was referred to our endocrine clinic for evaluation of progressive weight loss and malai...

Tumour stroma formation is associated with angiogenesis and requires interactions of various different cell types, including endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are actively recruited into growing tumour stroma. Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 act as non-classical proangiogenic modulators mediated by non-genomic mechanisms via cell surface receptor integrin αvβ3. The deaminated T4 derivative tetrac is a specific inhibitor of thyroid hormone action a...