Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Cross-sex hormone treatment (CHT) in male-to-female (M2F) transsexuals affects the hemostatic balance, with the emergence of a prothrombotic state with the use of certain estrogen (oral ethinyl estradiol vs 17β estradiol). Testosterone administration to F2M transsexuals had an antithrombotic effect. In female-to-male in (F2M) transsexuals administration of testosterone seems to carry a mild antithrombotic effect.Objective: To quantify ...

Introduction: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) over-express somatostatin receptors (SRs) and the efficacy of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with somatostatin analogues labeled with high activities of β-emitting radioisotopes has been reported.Aim: Ongoing study to evaluate efficacy and toxicity of combination treatment with 4 cycles of radiolabeled DOTATATE, alternating 177Lu and 90Yin patients with metastasised NETs expressing SRs refract...

Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) refers to a heterogeneous group of rare metabolic disorders characterized by hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia due to PTH resistance. Heterozygous loss of function mutations in the gene encoding the alpha-subunit of Gs (GNAS) inherited from the mother lead to PHP type Ia. PHP type Ia (PHP-Ia) is a disease in which the physical features (short stature, obesity, round face, brachydactyly and subcutaneous ossifications) that constitute Albri...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients could have altered endocrine function as different endocrine organs (gonads, pituitary, thyroid and pancreas) can be affected depending on the phenotype of the disease and the degree of systemic inflammation. Anabolic hormones can be involved as COPD patients can show weight loss and muscle wasting and both these conditions can modify natural history of the disease. Moreover COPD patients can frequently have acute exacerbat...

Introduction: Obesity related glomerulopathy (ORG) is an emerging epidemic alongside increasing incidences of obesity. ORG pathophysiology has not been explored despite poor prognosis in untreated patients. MCP-1, MIF, CCL-18 and CCL-15 are novel cytokines that may be pathologically involved in obesity-induced renal injury and explored in this study.Methods: Blood pressure, urine and blood samples were collected from 34 morbidly obese patients before and...

Idiopathic central hypogonadism (ICH) is a rare and heterogeneous disease due to defects of GnRH secretion or action. Depending on the association with a normal or defective sense of smell, ICH could be respectively identified as normosmic ICH (nICH) or Kallmann’s syndrome (KS). Recent experimental evidences indicate the involvement of the new PROK2/PROKR2 pathway in GnRH neuron maturation and function and mutations affecting these two genes have been described in some IC...

BRAFV600E mutation is considered useful in recognizing thyroid cancer aggressiveness or poor prognosis particularly in certain variants of papillary thyroid cancinoma (PTC). A recent meta-analysis identified 12 cancer-versus-non cancer gene candidate as markers of thyroid cancer; among these TIMP-1 (tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases) was found consistently up-regulated. Our aim was to evaluate BRAFV600E mutation and TIMP-1 expression in 14 PTC class...

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is a rare dominantly inherited neoplastic syndrome. Tipically, it affects three major locations: parathyroid, endocrine pancreas or duodenum (GEP) and anterior pituitary. MEN1 is caused by mutations in MEN1 gene and its testing is now used as a complement to clinical diagnosis which may be hindered by the variable penetrance and expression of the defects. Mutation carriers are life-long monitored, while unaffected relatives can avoid ...

GH-secreting and non-functioning pituitary tumors are clinically distinct, usually benign but potentially locally aggressive lesions originating from the replication of a single mutated pituitary cell. As for the underlying genetic and epigenetic alterations, also the patterns of activation of specific signaling pathways as well as the prognostic molecular factors leading to local invasiveness are, to date, largely unknown. In this study, we used two-dimensional electrophoresi...

Background: Radioiodine (131I) therapy is performed in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), either for thyroid remnant ablation or treating distant metastasis. Although 131I therapy is generally considered safe, a genotoxic damage has been demonstrated both in vivo and in vitro.Aim: To evaluate the possible effect of Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) supplementation on the time-course (up to 1...