Endocrine Abstracts

Aggressive pituitary tumours (APT) are not controlled by standard therapies. Pituitary carcinomas (PC) share many properties with APT and are defined by the presence of metastases. Temozolomide (TMZ), an oral alkylating with good penetrance into the brain, is the recommended first line chemotherapy. The survival has markedly been improved in patients with APT/PC during the last two decades. Prior to the TMZ-era, 66% of patients with PC were dead within a year after detection o...

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) comprise two clinical phenotypes, Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. These conditions share distinct immunological features such as autoreactivity against the key thyroid autoantigens thyroglobulin and thyroid peroxidase. Considering Graves’ disease as well as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, twin studies have revealed a higher concordance rate among monozygotic (MZ) as compared to dizygotic (DZ) twins, suggesting a rela...

Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is an androgen-independent subtype of prostate cancer (PCa) that develops in response to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). In some advanced CRPC cases, tumors can develop the neuroendocrine (NE) phenotype and progress towards an aggressive PCa subtype known as treatment-induced NE PCa (NEPC), which is characterized by an increase in the population of NE cells that secrete neuropeptides promoting cancer progression. A key player in ...

Objectives: The variability of thyroid hormone levels during long-term antithyroid drug (ATD) therapy and its possible association with adverse health outcomes has not been previously studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of thyroid function test (TFT) variability and cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity during long-term ATD therapy. Furthermore, clinical factors related to high TFT variability during the ATD therapy were identified.<p class="abs...

Androgen stimulation triggers rapid activation of signaling pathways in target cells. The initial event is a rapid interaction of classical androgen receptor (AR) with Src. Activation of these pathways fosters cell cycle, prevents apoptosis and leads to cytoskeleton changes in reproductive as well as non-reproductive cells. The role of Src activation in the androgen proliferative action has been recently corroborated by findings showing that specific interference in Src/AR ass...

Background and objective: Human recombinant growth hormone (hrGH/GH) is an injectable medication used commonly for growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and other health conditions that reduce growth and adult height. Daily GH injections can burden families and result in poor adherence. This study was conducted to investigate caregivers’ experiences, attitudes and preferences regarding pediatric GH treatment. At the time of data collection, the long-acting GH products were not ...

Objective: To collect clinical and treatment outcome data in a large patient cohort, and specifically to report experience with temozolomide (TMZ).Design: Cohort study based on an electronic survey open for participation to ESE members Dec 2015-Nov 2016.Results: Reports on 167 patients, 40 pituitary carcinomas, and 127 aggressive pituitary tumours were obtained. Median age at diagnosis was 43 (range 4–79) years. 59% of tumours...

Introduction: Cortisol autonomy may be frequently demonstrated in patients with adrenal incidentaloma and this has been associated to increased cardiovascular (CV) risk. However, only few data are available on CV events and related mortality in such patients. Aims of the study were: 1) to stratify CV events and mortality by the degree of cortisol secretion; 2) to evaluate the effect of adrenalectomy on CV events and mortality.Methods and Design: Data of ...

Over the last decade 824 pituitary tumours have been removed in our centre. Of these, 114 (13.8%) were corticotroph adenomas. We present four unusual cases of corticotroph adenoma showing transition from Cushing’s disease to a hormonally inactive adenoma (case 1 and 2) or vice versa (case 3 and 4).Case 1: A 51-year-old man was admitted with a 2-year history of weight gain, arterial hypertension and chiasmatic syndrome. Cushing’s disease (CD) du...

Aim: Osteoporosis is common in postmenopausal women and in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). PHPT is more prevalent in postmenopausal women. Aim of the present study was to investigate possible predictors of bone mineral density (BMD) in women with PHPT.Methods: 166 consecutive women with PHPT [age: 59.5±13.5 years; Asymptomatic/Symptomatic: 84/82; premenopausal/postmenopausal: 31/135; BMI: 25.6±4.8 kg/m2; PTH: 234.2±287.3 pg/...