Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Pheochromocytomasand paragangliomas are tumors derived from chromaffin cells which result from mutations of at least six different genes as autosomal dominant disorders.Aim: To evaluate the existence of correlations between genetic alterations and clinical data in 16 patients with pheochromocytomas and/or paragangliomas.Methods: From 2007 to 2009, 13 patients with pheochromocytoma [3 men, medium age 39 years (14&#8211...

Cell immortalization has been considered for a long time as a classic hallmark of cancer cells. Besides telomere maintenance due to the ‘alternative mechanism of telomere lengthening’ it was advanced that such immortalization could be due to telomerase reactivation, but the mechanisms underlying such reactivation remained elusive.Mutations in the coding region of telomerase gene are very rare in the cancer setting, despite being associated with...

Background: Graves’ Disease (GD) is one of the most common organ specific autoimmune disorders, being characterized by an abnormal production of stimulating autoantibodies to the thyrotropin receptor (TSHR). Some studies demonstrated that genetic polymorphisms in certain cytokines, namely interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), are associated with a greater susceptibility of developing GD. Our aim was to evaluate ...

After almost 3 years since SARS-CoV-2infection was detected for the first time, knowledge about its repercussions on the thyroid gland function in the course of acute illness or in the post-COVID-19 are still poorly understood. This gland may be particularly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 as this coronavirus enters cells through ACE-2 receptors, which are largely expressed in the thyroid gland. Through an observational, longitudinal and retrospective study, we investigated the seru...

Objective: Graves’ Disease (GD) is one of the most common autoimmune disorders. Some SNP in pro-inflammatory cytokines have already been linked to an increased susceptibility of developing GD. Thyroid hormones are crucial modulators of lipid metabolism. A pro-inflammatory state, may contribute several metabolic changes, including disturbances in lipid metabolism. Our aim was to evaluate if SNP in pro-inflammatory cytokines also contribute to disturbances of lipid profile ...

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is the most common chronic autoimmune thyroid disease, which is characterized by alteration of the thyroid function. HT is a multifactorial disorder and several candidate genetic loci have been identified as contributing to HT. The transcription factor Nrf2, encoded by the NFE2L2 gene, is an important regulator of the cellular protection against oxidative stress. The relevance of selenoproteins in follicular thyroid cell physiology and in mole...

BackgroundGraves’ Disease (GD) is characterized by production of stimulating autoantibodies to thyrotropin receptor resulting in hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism is associated with insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and ketosis. Our aim was to evaluate if single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in pro-inflammatory cytokines contributes to dysglycemia in GD.MethodsWe evaluated 98 patients with Graves’ di...

Objectives: Hürthle cell (oncocytic) lesions can be metaplastic or neoplastic events. The neoplastic entities -formerly, oncocytic variant of follicular tumours; Hürthle cell neoplasm (HCN) - include HC adenomas and HC carcinomas and have been recognized as a separate class of tumours by the WHO. The remaining of the thyroid tumours demonstrating “mitochondrion-rich cells” and oncocytic morphology are referred under the umbrella term of “oncocytic vari...

Background: Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a downstream effector of the PI3K/AKT pathway. It can be activated by diverse stimuli, such as growth factors, nutrients, energy, stress signals and signaling pathways such as PI3K, MAPK and AMPK, in order to control cell growth, proliferation and survival. The active form of mTOR (pmTOR) may form two distinct complexes: mTORC1 that activates S6K1 and 4EBP1 which are involved in mRNA translation; and mTORC2 that activates PKC...

Osteopontin (OPN) is a matricellular protein highly expressed in cancer cells, which is able to modulate tumorigenesis and metastasis in several malignancies, including follicular cell-derived thyroid cancers (TC). OPN is one of the gene products aberrantly expressed in TC, but the contribution of each OPN isoform (OPNi), named as OPNa, OPNb and OPNc, is currently unknown. This study aims to analyze the expression profile of OPNi in TC tissue samples, correlate its expression ...