Endocrine Abstracts

During the spring of 2020, a national lockdown was adopted in Italy to prevent COVID-19 pandemic spread. Restrictive measures have been associated with impaired psychological outcome in the general population. As patients with Cushing’s Syndrome (CS), including Cushing’s disease (CD), adrenal CS (ACS), and ectopic CS (ECS), are reportedly associated with a higher prevalence of anxiety, stress susceptibility, depression, and maniac episodes, during both active disease...

Background/aim: Burosumab is a monoclonal antibody against anti-FGF23, which has been recently approved for the treatment of X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH). Beyond clinical trials, little is known about its efficacy/safety in clinical practice which is the aim of the present study.Patients/methods: Thirty-nine children with XLH were switched from conventional therapy to burosumab (starting dose 0.4 mg/kg), on the basis of following indications: non-resp...

Autoimmune thyroiditis and related complications represent a growing concern during pregnancy. Selenium is frequently present in nutraceuticals recommended for thyroiditis and pregnancy, given its advocated role in immunity, fertility and thyroid function. However, most evidences come from non-controlled studies. Materials and MethodsWe designed a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (Serena Study: NCT01465867) to evaluate the ...

Introduction: Constitution of new blood vessels is crucial for cancer self-maintenance and progression. Neo-angiogenesis may be affected from hereditary traits, namely the presence of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) of genes involved in its regulation. VEGF-A represents the main regulator of angiogenesis. Germline SNPs of the VEGF-A gene have been associated to outcome of several cancers, but no data exist about differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).<p class="abstext"...

Purpose: To validate a prognostic stratification system of overall survival (OS) in stage IV pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) naïve of therapy by analyzing 1) prognostic parameters at the time of stage IV diagnosis; 2) the role of spontaneous tumor slope.Patients and Methods: Multicenter retrospective study including consecutive patients diagnosed with stage IV pNET from January 1997 to March 2014. Inclusion criteria were: 1. pNET w...

A recent phase III clinical trial has demonstrated that the treatment with the somatostatin analogue pasireotide normalizes cortisol secretion in 15–28% of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 6-months pasireotide treatment on clinical and hormonal profiles in a group of CD patients with mild to moderate disease according with the real-word evidence. Thirty-two patients with CD unsuccessfully treated ...

The mTOR and IGF pathways have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of pheochromocytomas (PCC). mTOR inhibitors, as sirolimus (S) and everolimus (E), as well as IGF1R antagonists could be a potential novel treatment for malignant PPC.The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of the main components of the IGF/mTOR pathway in human PCC and to investigate the effects of the mTOR inhibitors S and E and of the IGF1R/insulin receptor (I...

Context: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a common endocrine disease, characterized by the chronic elevation of serum calcium (Ca) levels induced by a long-standing increase of PTH concentrations. PHPT includes mild-asymptomatic and symptomatic forms. Cinacalcet is effective in lowering serum Ca levels in PHPT, but is indicated solely in mild-asymptomatic PHPT meeting surgery criteria. Management of non-surgical mild-asymptomatic PHPT is still a debated issue.<p class...

Background: Some patients with acromegaly do not achieve biochemical control despite receiving maximum-approved doses of currently available somatostatin analogues. This 24-week, randomized study assessed the multireceptor-targeted somatostatin analogue pasireotide LAR vs octreotide LAR/lanreotide Autogel in patients with inadequately controlled acromegaly.Methods: Eligible patients: ≥18 years with mean GH levels ≥2.5 μg/l and IGF1 level...

Background: The human cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2W1 is involved in the metabolism of several endogenous substrates, including lysophospholipids and fatty acids. Using a polyclonal antibody, we previously demonstrated a high CYP2W1 immunoreactivity in adrenocortical tumors, particularly in those secreting steroids. The aim of the study was to better elucidate the relationship between CYP2W1 and steroid secretion in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) H295R cell line and in a larger seri...