Endocrine Abstracts

The cardiovascular outcome of targeted treatment of primary aldosteronism (PA) has not been prospectively studied in large cohorts. Using the data of the prospective German Conn’s registry we evaluated the effect of adrenalectomy (ADX) vs mineralocorticoid-receptor-antagonists (MRA) treatment on blood pressure (BP), serum potassium, eGFR, pro-BNP, number and WHO DDD of antihypertensive drugs. Since 2008, 181 patients have been newly diagnosed with PA and underwent subtype...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (CAH) is encoded by the CYP21A2 gene. The CYP21A2 gene is partially overlapped by the TNXB gene encoding an extracellular matrix protein called Tenascin-X. Deficiency of Tenascin X can cause the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Deletions of CYP21A2 extending into TNXB rarely cause CAH combined with EDS. CAH associated with mild hypermobility form of EDS due to TNXB haploinsufficiency caused by heterozygous mutation h...

Adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is a technically demanding procedure required for identification of suitable candidates for unilateral adrenalectomy in primary aldosteronism. Recently, somatic mutations in aldosterone producing adenomas (APA) have become a focus of research. We identified KCNJ5 K+-channel mutations in 34% of APAs, and more recently mutations in 2 ATPase family members in 11 and 6%. However, it is unclear whether steroid gradients during the AVS are infl...

Context: Primary aldosteronism (PA) represents the most frequent cause of a curable secondary arterial hypertension. Conflicting data have been published regarding the effect of aldosterone excess on glucose and lipid metabolism.Objective: Our aim was to analyze insulin sensitivity and beta cell function in a cohort of PA patients. Prospective follow-up investigations were performed in a subgroup of patients before and after adrenalectomy to assess the m...

Background: The development of recombinant biologics has had a major impact on many diseases. However, most biologics are rapidly cleared from the body and therefore require frequent injection regimens. There is therefore a need for technologies that allow the half-lives of these molecules to be extended in a predictable manner.HypothesisIncreasing numbers of N-linked glycosylation motifs between two GH molecules leads to gradually...

Maintenance of ketosis and increases in resting energy expenditure (EE) are two proposed mechanisms for weight loss observed in humans performing low-carbohydrate/high-fat (LC-HF) diets like the Atkin’s diet. To explore these potential mechanisms, we pair-fed isocaloric amounts of regular chow (CH) or two LC-HF diets (carbohydrates~1%ME) to male Wistar rats for 4 weeks. LC-HF-1 (fat~66%ME) was matched in protein content to CH, whereas LC-HF-2 was even higher in fat (~94%M...

The prevalence of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) based on IGF-1 testing differs in literature between 10 and 40%. In our cohort the frequency of IGF-1 values <1 S.D. was 25%. If our patients had a minimal hepatocellular damage, the IGF-1 value could be <1 S.D. We evaluated the effects of BMI and liver function on IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 values in patients following TBI or subarachnoidal haemorrhage (SAH).<...

Leptin and ghrelin are correlated to acute and chronic nutritional status. Elevated BMI and fat mass as well as food intake increase leptin levels whereas ghrelin levels are reduced. Ghrelin stimulates growth hormone (GH) secretion. The influence of GH on ghrelin is unclear. Since GH reduces fat mass and is dependent on nutritional status we performed this prospective cross sectional study in order to investigate any interaction between GH, ghrelin and leptin levels in active ...

ContextE47 is a transcription factor mostly known for its role in B and T cell lineage commitment. Recently E47 was identified as a modulator of glucocorticoid receptor target genes, its loss protecting mice from metabolic adverse effects of glucocorticoids. Patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) suffer from an endogenous glucocorticoid excess due to tumour formation associated with a variety of metabolic comorbidities seriously affecting patients&#1...

Background: We recently have shown a close association of high concentrations of soluble alpha klotho (sαKL) to disease activity in acromegaly. Small pilot studies suggested that sαKL concentrations might be reduced in GH deficiency (GHD) and increase after recombinant human GH (rhGH) therapy. Our aim was to evaluate the potential of sαKL as a biomarker in GHD.Methods: We evaluated sαKL in comparison to the classical biomarkers GH, IG...