Endocrine Abstracts

HCC is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Local approaches are generally preferred for patients whose disease is restricted to the liver. In patients with extrahepatic disease systemic therapy can be considered. Chemotherapy did not demonstrate convincing survival advantages in several trails for HCC patients. Presently, the kinase inhibitor sorafenib is the only approved systemic target therapy for the treatment of advanced HCC. Mitotane (dichlorodiphenildichloroe...

HCC is a difficult-to-treat- cancer with poor prognosis. The recent EVOLVE-1 trial demonstrated that EVE did not improve overall survival in molecularly and clinically unselected patients with advanced HCC resistant to sorafenib treatment. In selected patients, the well-established antitumor effect of EVE could make this drug a potential adjuvant therapy. Unfortunately, the acquired resistance to this molecule due to the tumor adaptation to chronic drug use is a current challe...

In patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency, life-long glucocorticoid (GC) treatment is often required to replace cortisol deficiency and to avoid the ACTH-dependent androgen levels increase. However, in these patients, the multiple daily doses required with conventional GCs can cause cortisol overexposure, leading to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome (MS), an impaired quality of life (QoL), and poor treatment compliance (TC). T...

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered a hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome and is closely associated with abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidaemia, and diabetes exposing subjects with NAFLD to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of NAFLD in diabetes mellitus (DM) patients, to correlate it to the subclinical atherosclerosis in these patients.<p class="abstex...

The mTOR and IGF/insulin pathways are frequently dysregulated in HCC. Antitumoral activity of mTOR inhibitors (mTORi) has been demonstrated in experimental models but in early clinical studies mTORi alone have shown modest antitumoral activity. IGF/insulin-dependent Akt activation, via IGF1R and IR, has been suggested as potential mechanism for mTORi resistance. This study aimed at evaluating the expression of mTOR and IGF/insulin pathway components and the effects of mTORi al...

Experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT) has been used to simulate human autoimmune thyroid disease for decades. EAT can be easily induced in genetically susceptible strains of mice by excess iodine ingestion or by immunization with mouse thyroglobulin. Excess iodine may induce and exacerbate autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) in humans and animal models. In order to assess the potential protective mechanisms of selenium (Se) in thyroid autoimmunity, we evaluated the effects of ino...

Introduction: According to the latest recommendations, monitoring protocol for adrenal incidentalomas includes: hormonal determinations annually for 4 years and imaging at 6, 12 and 24 months. The objectives of this study are: i) to define the clinical features, natural history and clinical management of adrenal incidentaloma in our area, ii) to evaluate the performance of the current monitoring protocol.Methods: Retrospective study including patients di...

A high risk for small bowel (SB) tumors in acromegalic population has been reported in a cohort study (Baris D, 2002). SB lesions may be easily investigated by the recently developed videocapsule endoscopy (VCE). Aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of SB neoplasms by VCE in 14 acromegalic patients (Ac) in respect to 30 sex and age-matched control subjects and to correlate it with cancer risk factors and acromegaly-related parameters. Local Ethical committee approved ...

Background: Up to 30% of incidentally-discovered adrenal masses are lipid-poor adenomas (LPA). The clinical significance of LPA is poorly understood. The aim of the study was to investigate histopathological features of LPA and their association with radiological parameters.Methods: A total of 39 patients with radiological evidence of LPA were included. LPA was defined as an adrenal mass with pre-contrast Hounsfield units (HU) ≧10, associated wit...

Insulin resistance (IR), characterized by an impairment of target tissues to insulin responsiveness, is the core defect preceding diabetes. Preclinical and clinical data have suggested a role for the dopaminergic system in glucose homeostasis control. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of the dopamine agonist cabergoline (CAB), displaying high affinity for dopamine type 2 (DR2) receptor and low affinity for serotonin receptors (5-HTRs), in the regulation ...