Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Evidence suggests that pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are present in intra-/peri-islets in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We isolated stellate cell from islets (ISC) of Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats. Given these cells are intra-islets, which possibly affect the biological behavior of β-cell. This study was designed to determine the effects of ISC isolated from fibrotic islets of GK rats on β-cell function and survival.Methods: ISC was...

Non-healing foot ulcers are a major complication in diabetic patients. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known to promote angiogenesis with improved wound healing. Orbsen Therapeutics has identified a novel antibody (CD362+) which can be used to prospectively FACS-isolate CD362+CD45− MSC from human bone marrow with enhanced MSC/MNC purity ratios of up to 1/4. Excellagen matrix was used to seed the cells as biomaterials are well reported t...

Introduction: Congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis (CNPAS) is an increasingly recognised cause of upper airway obstruction associated with holoprosencephaly, of which solitary median maxillary central incisor (SMMCI) is the least severe form. Studies have described pituitary abnormalities in up to 40%. We aimed to determine the use of baseline endocrine investigations and MRI brain in assessing endocrine dysfunction.Method: Retrospective casenote ...

Introduction: Panhypopituitarism is a known but rare presentation of lymphoproliferative disease. We describe a patient with newly diagnosed advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who presented with anterior hypopituitarism and concomitant adrenal gland involvement.Case report: A 72 year-old Chinese woman presented with a few weeks’ duration of lethargy, weight loss and functional decline. A hormonal screen done at admission suggested central hypoth...

Introduction: Hypogonadism is known to persist after treatment of hyperprolactinemia, necessitating androgen therapy in young male patients. Aromatisation of testosterone to estradiol can result in tumor expansion. We report a patient with persistent hypogonadism post treatment of macroprolactinoma and discuss challenges involved in the management.Case report: A 51-year-old gentleman was admitted for streptococcal meningitis. Brain imaging revealed a pit...

Introduction: Male hypogonadism secondary to AIDS is common and may present with non specific symptoms. Patients may self-diagnose hypogonadism and seek unauthorised androgen therapy. We report a male patient who developed polycythemia after receiving unauthorised sources of androgen therapy.Case report: A 42 years old man with AIDS diagnosed 10 years ago has repeatedly refused antiretroviral therapy. His most recent CD4 count was 314 cells/μl. His ...

Background: Bariatric surgery has been shown to decrease insulin requirements even before significant weight loss has occurred. We report a patient with marked improvement in glycemic control despite modest weight loss post bariatric surgery.Case presentation: A 47 years old Chinese man with obesity (weight 90 kg, BMI 31.2), hypertension, hyperlipidemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus diagnosed in 2005 is on follow up with our endocrine clinic. Despite comp...

Introduction: Loss-of-function mutations in AIP are associated with familial isolated pituitary adenoma, often leading to gigantism due to invasive GH-secreting pituitary adenomas. One challenging problem in the management of patients carrying a missense AIP variant is to determine whether the missense variant is a disease-causing mutation or not. As most of the molecular mechanisms involved in the control of growth and the cell cycle are well-conserved, we p...

Glucocorticoids (GCs) have an important role in inflammation, apoptosis and immunosuppression and are among the most widely prescribed medications in clinical practice. GCs exert their effect by binding to the transcription factor, glucocorticoid receptor (GR). GCs are used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) as they induce apoptosis in lymphoid cells, however resistance and side effects still occur frequently. Computational modeling has enormous potential ...

The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is a G protein-coupled receptor with an extracellular bilobed venus flytrap domain (VFTD) predicted to contain five calcium-binding sites. The major site for calcium-binding is comprised of amino acid residues that line the cleft between the two lobes of the VFTD. We investigated the structure-function relationships of VFTD CaSR mutations identified in patients with familial hypocalciuric hypercalcaemia (FHH), neonatal severe primary hyperpa...