Endocrine Abstracts

Cancer exosomes emerged as important mediators of cancer drug resistance. Drug exposure-mediated EveR in HCC cell lines can be reversed by VitD pre- and co-treatment. The current study aimed to investigate whether cancer exosomes from EveR HCC cell line are able to induce EveR in parental cells and whether VitD may activate reversal effect on exosome-mediated EveR.To this purpose, parental JHH-6 and EveR JHH-6 cell line were used. The uptakeof exosomes, ...

Pasireotide (PAS) has a safety profile similar to first-generationsomatostatin analogues (SSA), except for a higher frequency of hyperglycaemia-related adverse events (AEs). However, consensus on the best management of PAS-induced hyperglycaemia in acromegalic patients has still to be defined. The current study aims at investigating the effects of long-term PAS treatment on glucose metabolism, by evaluating the clinical management of hyperglycemia-relatedAEs in acromegalic pat...

The Liège Acromegaly Survey is a cross-sectional study on acromegalic patients, developed as an in-house tool in Liège, then extended to other Europeans participating centers. The database differentiates itself from national and multinational registries by adopting a goal oriented approach and it was conceived following a list of open questions on acromegaly. After an initial test run in Liège, the database installation started on mid-March 2010. Thirteen other ...

Introduction: Natural history of lung neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) and in particular of two histological subtypes, atypical carcinoid (AC) and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC), is poorly known.Aim of the study was to determine disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of sporadic, resectable, non-metastatic lung AC and LNEC.Patients and methods: This retrospective study involved 116 consecutive patients surg...

Normosmic congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (nCHH) is a rare reproductive disease leading to lack of puberty and infertility. Loss-of-function mutations of GNRH1 gene are a very rare cause of autosomal recessive nCHH. R31C GNRH1 is the only missense mutation that affects the conserved GnRH decapeptide sequence. This mutation was identified in a CpG islet in nine nCHH subjects from four unrelated families, giving evidence for a putative ‘hot spot&#...

Introduction: In a Phase III trial, pasireotide LAR was significantly superior (P=0.007) to octreotide LAR at providing biochemical control at 12 months in medically naïve acromegaly patients (post-pituitary surgery or de novo). Inadequately controlled patients (GH≥2.5 μg/l and/or IGF-1>ULN) at the end of core study were eligible for switching therapy (crossover extension). Reported here are efficacy results up to 12 months and safety resu...

The pathogenesis of pheochromocytomas (pheo) is poorly understood and malignant pheo need new treatment options. mTOR inhibitors, as sirolimus (S) and everolimus (E), are new promising antineoplastic drugs.Aim: To evaluate whether the IGF/mTOR pathways have a role in the pathogenesis and whether S and E may have antiproliferative effects in pheo.In 24 human pheo and two normal adrenal medulla (NM), we evaluated the mRNA expression ...

Background: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an uncommon malignancy with a still scantily understood pathogenesis and generally poor prognosis. Many patients with ACC need new treatment options. mTOR inhibitors, as sirolimus (S) and temsirolimus (T), are promising antineoplastic drugs in several kinds of tumors.Methods: In three human ACC cell lines (H295, HAC15 and SW13), we evaluated the mTOR and IGF2 expression at mRNA level (by qPCR) and at protein ...

Background: Typing somatostatin receptor (SSTR) expression in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is of relevance to target an octreotide-based diagnostic approach and treatment. The expanding use of immunohistochemistry to detect SSTR is to date not paralleled by an accurate methodological setting and standardized interpretation of the results.Objective: A multicentric study was designed to compare SSTR immunohistochemical expression with in vivo scinti...

Chronic exposure to hypercortisolism has a significant impact on patient’s health and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), as demonstrated with generic questionnaires. Objective: Develop and validate a disease-generated questionnaire to evaluate HRQoL in patients with Cushing’s syndrome-CS- (Cushing QoL). Methods: After a literature review, interviews with expert endocrinologists and 10 patients identified HRQoL domains and clinical aspects of the disease; an anal...