Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Besson A et al. described a patient with homozygous for C53S-hGH suffering from IGHD (JCEM2005 90:2493-9). They observed reduced ability of the mutant to bind and activate GHR in vitro. C53A-hGH lacks the disulfide bond between C53 and C165, which is conserved in GH/prolactin family.Methods: Mouse pituitary AtT-20 cells, HEK-293 and CHO-K1 cells were transfected with plasmids containing C53S, C53A or C53S/C165A cDNA. hGH from cell supernatant...

Objective: Patients from FRG and West-Berlin with primary (1AI) or secondary (2AI) adrenal insufficiency were treated with hydrocortisone (HC) while in contrast patients from the former GDR received prednisolone (PR). Investigation of our study is to detect any differences in quality of life (QoL) in patients on HC or PR medication.Methods: 350 patients of our outpatient clinic were contacted by mail. Up to now 131 patients took part in the survey. 2 sta...

Introduction: Although biochemical markers of acromegaly disease activity, including GH and IGF1, may fluctuate from day-to-day, biochemical treatment response in clinical trials is generally monitored using single-point analyses. Accordingly, longitudinal evaluations may assess patient status more accurately. In a phase 3 trial, oral octreotide capsules (OOC) demonstrated sustained composite endpoint GH and IGF1 response for ≤13 months in 151 patients with acromegaly pr...

Background: Adult GH deficiency (GHD) is diagnosed by provocative testing of GH secretion. To improve diagnostic accuracy of GHRH plus arginine (GARG) testing, we evaluated the influence of age, BMI, and sex. Furthermore, we aimed to established normative data for an automatic immunoassay specifically measuring 22kD human GH.Methods: Eighty-seven patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disease and 200 healthy controls were enrolled. Controls were prospectiv...

Background: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and heterogeneous malignancy with incompletely understood pathogenesis and poor prognosis. Computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are routinely performed for imaging of the adrenal mass and for standard staging of chest and abdomen as lung and liver are the primary organs for metastatic spread in ACC. Contrast ultrasound is a non-invasive procedure which has been shown to have a high sensitivity an...

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is recognized as common liver disorder that represents the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome including visceral obesity, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the progressive form of liver injury with the risk for progressive fibrosis, cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. The pathophysiology that leads to NAFLD and NASH is not well understood. We hypo...

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is recognized as common liver disorder that represents the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome including visceral obesity, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the progressive form of liver injury with the risk for progressive fibrosis, cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. The pathophysiology that leads to NAFLD and NASH is not well understood. We hypo...

Introduction: Pegvisomant (PEGV) is approved for the treatment of acromegaly since 2003. This is the second interim analysis of data from ACROSTUDY, with the majority of patients treated for at least five years (yrs).Methods/design: ACROSTUDY is an international, open-label, prospective, non-interventional, post-marketing surveillance study monitoring the long-term safety and efficacy of PEGV. Patients were enrolled in the study on an ongoing basis.<...

Introduction: Acromegalic patients (AP) often report fatigue and chronic subjective complaints. We aimed to investigate in more detail these aspects in AP, dependent on disease activity, age, gender, medication and pituitary insufficiency (PI).Patients/methods: Cross sectional, 124 patients (M/W 51/73, age 58.3±14.7 years, 49/75–active/controlled disease). The patients completed the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) and the Giessen Su...

Background: Many patients with acromegaly report limitations of long-acting somatostatin receptor ligand (SRL) injections, including ongoing disease symptoms near cycle-end and injection-site pain. Oral octreotide capsules (OOC) may provide an alternative to monthly injections. The phase 3 CHIASMA OPTIMAL study assessed efficacy and safety of OOC in patients with acromegaly controlled on injectable SRLs.Methods: A multinational, randomized, placebo-contr...