Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: PHPT is a common endocrine disease characterized by hypercalcemia and different degree of osteoporosis and nephrolithiasis. PHPT arises in the context of an inherited disease in 5% of cases. Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is the commonest cause of inherited PHPT. The main therapeutic approach for PHPT is surgery, however many patients refuse or have contraindications for surgery while others, in particular those with MEN1 PHPT, have persistent/relapsi...

Introduction: Targeted therapy with the multi-kinase inhibitor sorafenib is effective for treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) unresponsive to RAI. Although kinase-inhibitors (KIs) are usually well tolerated, severe and even fatal adverse events are reported. Aim of the study was to assess incidence and characteristics of fatal events in patients with RAI-refractory DTC responsive to treatment with sorafenib.Design: A retrospective analysis o...

Introduction: Paragangliomas are neuroectodermal tumors that arise from adrenal medulla or extra-adrenal ganglia and are characterized by high vascularisation. A high rate of these tumours is genetically inherited. For malignant paragangliomas, chemo- and radio-therapy are potentially effective, but tumor response is of short duration and patient prognosis is quite poor. Sunitinib is a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor, targeting VEGFR1, -2, PDGFRα, -β, RET and c-Kit. Recent...

Introduction: Kinase-inhibitors (KIs) are effective for treatment of most aggressive endocrine cancers. The crucial point about treatment with KIs is that these agents are not curative and their effects are at best transitory and are always followed by a restoration of tumour growth and progression. Several retrospective and phase II studies demonstrated efficacy of both sorafenib and sunitib for treatment of iodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer although results fro...

Introduction: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor in which somatostatin receptor (sst) expression is higher for sst1 and sst5 than for sst2. This may explain why the available sst2–selective analogues do not work in these patients and why pasireotide (SOM230), a novel, multi-receptor targeted somatostatin analogue with high-binding affinity for sst1,2,3 and sst5 coul...