Endocrine Abstracts

We have previously shown that the current guidelines for monitoring thyroid function post radioiodine (RI), may not detect hypothyroidism until it has become severe, in a significant proportion of cases (J Endocrinol Invest 2012 35 82–86). An alternative more intense follow-up strategy was used whereby patients had TSH and FT4 measured at 4-week intervals post RI for 6 months. Endocrine specialist nurse-led telephone and nurse-led out-...

A 61-year-old was diagnosed with CLL in 1986 but received no active treatment until 2006, when the WCC became elevated and bone marrow biopsy showed a dense B cell infiltrate. Despite initial treatment with chemotherapy there was disease progression, hence started on Alemtuzumab (Campath) on 24/5/2010. This was stopped on 18/6/2010 because of recurrent neutropenic sepsis. He was readmitted on 18/7/2010 because of left eye cellulitis and hyponatremic with serum sodium of 122 mm...

We present two cases where, without measurement of cortisol binding globulin (CBG), interpretation of their 250mcg short synacthen test (SST) would have falsely suggested inadequate pituitary-adrenal reserve.A 62yr old woman was referred with an incidental finding of a pituitary adenoma. Pituitary function tests confirmed gonadotrophin and growth hormone deficiency. Initial and subsequent SSTs were normal (30min cortisol reater than 600nmol/L). Follow up...

IGFs act as amplifiers of gonadotrophin (Gn) action in the ovary, but their activity is modulated by IGFBPs. In addition, we have shown IGF-independent inhibitory effects of IGFBP-4 on ovarian steroidogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible mechanism of action of IGFBP-4 in ovarian cells.Granulosa cells (GC) and theca were harvested from intact follicles (2.5-14mm) dissected from 8 pairs of ovaries collected with ethics committee a...

The role of prolactin in the regulation of ovarian folliculogenesis and in particular it's relationship to follicular atresia is as yet unclear; although a decline in prolactin concentrations in bovine follicular fluid appears to be related to morphological signs of atresia. In addition to the pituitary and endometrium sources of prolactin, there is also a local ovarian source of prolactin. Hence a potential autocrine mechanism of prolactin action may exist in the ovary. We in...

The IGF/IGFBPs are important in follicle growth and selection, with IGFBP-4 being one of the major players in this system. We have shown potent, IGF-independent, inhibitory effects of IGFBP-4 on steroidogenesis, explaining its' preferential proteolysis in healthy follicles. Two isoforms of IGFBP-4 exist, non-glycosylated and glycosylated, at approximately 24 and 28kDa, with different susceptibility to proteolysis. We therefore investigated the production of IGFBP-4 isoforms by...

IGFs and IGFBPs have an important role in folliculogenesis, with the profile of IGFBPs being different in healthy and atretic follicles. In particular, IGFBP-4, which is a potent inhibitor of steroidogenesis, is preferentially proteolysed in healthy follicles. We therefore investigated the production and activation of IGFBP-4 protease in human follicular cells.Follicles of 3-25mm were dissected from 13 pairs of ovaries collected with ethics committee app...