Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Several studies have demonstrated a high incidence of vertebral fractures (VF) in acromegaly, not always correlated with bone mineral density (BMD) value adquired by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). At trabecular level, GH may alter bone microarchitecture (BM) that predisposes to bone fragility. Trabecular Bone Score (TBS), a textural parameter applied to DEXA to evaluate BM, could be useful to predict VF risk in these patients.Materials a...

Introduction: Pasireotide Lar is a new generation long-acting somatostatin multireceptor ligand, approved for the treatment of first line somatostatin analogue resistant patients. We aimed to review Pasireotide Lar efficacy data, in our series of patients affected by aggressive acromegaly.Patients: A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted on patients with aggressive acromegaly, resistant to first-line somatostatin analogues (SSA) and on treatment...

Background: Testis stimulation with follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) is one of the empirical treatments proposed for male idiopathic infertility, although early reliable markers to predict its efficacy are still lacking.Objective: To identify the improvement of semen parameters required to predict a priori FSH efficacy in terms of pregnancy achievement.Methods: A real-world study was conducted, enrolling idiopathic infer...

Background: Gastric neuroendocrine tumors (gNETs) are relatively uncommon. Represent up to 23% of all digestive neuroendocrine neoplasms. The majority are incidentally diagnosed from histology of ‘simple’ gastric polyps identified at endoscopy. There are 3 groups of gNETs: types 1, 2 and 3 with different pathogeneses, biological and clinical behaviors. It is worth mentioning that recent reports suggest a fourth type of gNETs1. Type I represents 75–80%...

Introduction: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) of somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (SST2) is a predictive factor for first-generation somatostatin receptor ligand (fg-SRL) response in acromegaly patients. A semi-quantitative immunoreactivity score, IRS, has been proposed as the gold-standard to evaluate SST2 IHC expression. Recently, our group developed a quantitative method to determine SST2 expression using an open-source digital image analysis (DIA...

Alternative splicing is a crucial mechanism of gene regulation and this process can be dysregulated in cancer. In pituitary tumors (PitNETs), alteration in the serine/arginine-rich splicing factors (SRSFs) has been reported. Newly synthetized SRSFs are phosphorylated by serine-arginine protein kinase 1 (SRPK1) to facilitate their nuclear import. In response to extracellular stimuli SRPK1 may translocate to the nucleus as well to hyperphosphorylate SRSFs and favor their interac...

Introduction: Adults with growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) have increased prevalence of hepatic steatosis (HS) that might be improved by growth hormone replacement therapy (rhGH). However, data on this topic are conflincting and scanty. Aim: to evaluate prevalence of HS, organ-specific distribution of adipose tissue and cardiovascular impairment in AGHD.Methods: cross-sectional collection of clinical, biochemical and instrumental data (abdominal ultrasou...

Introduction: AVP secretion disturbances in pituitary lesions usuall, present as AVP deficienc, due to compression of the posterior pituitary lobe. Excessive secretion of AVP (syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis) (SIAD) is ver, uncommon in patients with pituitary tumor. A few cases of non-functionating adenoma, prolactinoma, and even pituitary apoplex, were described to present with SIAD. Pituicytoma is a rare tumor of the neurohypophysis. The, usuall, present with visual d...

Background: Severe congenital growth hormone deficiency (cGHD) is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition. Even though random growth hormone (GH) can confirm cGHD during the first week of life, the diagnosis remains extremely challenging in the absence of reliable reference values in healthy neonates and thus of a best diagnostic cut-off.Aims: First, to provide solid reference values for GH concentrations in term newborns, by means of a non-inv...

Background: Invasive nonfunctioning (NF) pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are non-resectable neoplasms associated to frequent relapse and significant comorbidities. As current treatments often fail against NF-PitNETs, identifying actionable therapeutic targets is essential. We focused on the angiopoietin-2 (Angpt2)/Tie2 axis, usually active in endothelial cells (ECs).Methods: ANGPT2 plasma levels in NF-PitNET patients and healthy controls were m...