Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase (SGPL1) catalyses the final step in sphingolipid metabolism, irreversibly degrading the lipid signalling molecule sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). The relative abundance of S1P compared to its precursors sphingosine and ceramide finely tunes signal transduction for a wide range of cellular pathways including proliferation, apoptosis, migration and calcium handling. Loss-of-function mutations in SGPL1 cause a spectrum of disorders, incl...

Background: Subtle symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain and depression are commonly present for years in patients with pituitary adenoma (PA) before the diagnosis is made. A delayed diagnosis with risk of increased morbidity and mortality may be due to differences between patient-reported symptoms and symptoms reported in the patient’s medical record.Aim: To estimate diagnostic delay and investigate the concordance between patient-reported symptoms...

Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is characterised by lack of cortisol production from the adrenal glands which is treated with replacement doses of hydrocortisone. At times of physiological stress there is an increased requirement for exogenous glucocorticoids, which if untreated can lead to an adrenal crisis. Currently there are no unified guidelines for those <18 years old in the UK; this can lead to a substantial variation in the management of AI in both an emergency and peri...

Background: Well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are characterized by the overexpression of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs). To efficiently engage and activate tumor infiltrating lymphocytes against NET cells, we designed a novel bispecific T-cells engager (BiTE) composed of 2 molecules of somatostatin-14 (SST14), the hormone that physiologically binds SSTRs, linked with a single chain variable fragment (scFV)-based anti-CD3.Methods: The optim...

Objective: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. Steroid hormones and bile acids are potent regulators of hepatic carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Steroid 5β-reductase (AKR1D1) is highly expressed in human liver where it inactivates steroid hormones and catalyzes a fundamental step in bile acid synthesis.Methods: Human liver biopsies were obtained from 34 obese patients and AKR1D1 mRNA expres...

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates the presence of bidirectional cross-talks between the endocrine and the immune system. However, no data are available on the influence of either the thyroid hormones or TSH within the normal range on the immune cell function in healthy humans.Aim: To comprehensively investigate the effects of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis on the variation of immune responses in a cohort of healthy volunteers.<p cl...

Introduction: The effects of maternal suboptimal gestational thyroid function (SGTF) on age 3 offspring’s cognitive function were investigated in the Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening (CATS) randomised trial, comparing SGTF mothers who received (SGTF-T), or didn’t (SGTF-U), levothyroxine during pregnancy. The analysis was repeated at age 9 in the CATS-II follow-up study, also including children of mothers with normal gestational thyroid function (NGTF). Here we ...

Introduction: Patients with acromegaly have an increased mortality, mainly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Sleep apnea is related to hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular diseases and is reported to occur in 11–30% of acromegaly patients, according to retrospective studies based on diagnostic ICD-codes. However, in smaller prospective studies sleep apnea is found in about 70% of patients with active acromegaly and 40% after biochemical control. This diff...

Objectives: The Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening (CATS) study I was a randomised trial investigating the effects of levothyroxine treatment for suboptimal gestational thyroid function (SGTF), evaluating mothers with normal gestational thyroid function (NGTF), SGTF who received (SGTF-T), or didn’t (SGTF-U), levothyroxine during pregnancy. The present follow-up study (CATS II) reports the long-term effects of SGTF and levothyroxine treatment on anthropometric and card...

Hypothyroidism and thyrotoxicosis have detrimental effects on skeletal development and adult bone strength. These effects result from thyroid hormone actions in bone, although a direct role for TSH in osteoblasts and osteoclasts was postulated following analysis of TSH receptor (TSHR) null mice. This hypothesis remains controversial as other studies failed to demonstrate osteoblast or osteoclast responses to TSH in vitro. Thyrostimulin is a heterodimeric glycoprotein ho...