Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) necessitate prolonged clinical, biochemical and radiological observation, constituting a significant burden in terms of medical resources and societal costs. Reliable biomarkers associated with aggressiveness and recurrence of NFPAs are lacking. As the growth of tumor remnants is highly variable, molecular markers that can predict growth potential and tumor behavior are necessary.Aim: To identify tar...

BackgroundCorticotroph pituitary adenomas present different degrees of functionality, from silent to whispering and finally to functioning adenomas leading to Cushing’s disease. Compared to their functioning (FCA) counterpart, the silent corticotroph adenomas (SCA) express lower levels of the corticotroph cell lineage marker–TBX19 (TPIT), proopiomelanocortin (POMC), and prohormone converting enzyme 1/3 (PC1/3, PCSK1)–t...

Introduction: Existing educational resources for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have limited inclusion of patient perspectives. We invited people with PCOS to share their lived experiences to understand their perception and opinion on the current standard of care.Methodology: Women aged 18-60 years with PCOS were invited to complete an online survey in April and May 2021. The survey had open questions focused on people’s lived experiences with PCO...

BackgroundDiabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults in developed world. Derangements of ubiquitine-proteasome system and telomere length have been associated with microangiopathy in diabetes. Until now, limited data are available on above markers in diabetic retinopathy in type 1 diabetes (T1D).AimThe aim of this work was to compare serum proteasome concentration and telomer...

Background: The published data on the natural history of (presumed) non-functioning pituitary microadenomas (micro-NFAs) is possibly compromised by small sample sizes, short follow-up and inclusion of cases with other pathologies in the analyses.Objective: To clarify the long-term outcomes of micro-NFAs in a large cohort of patients.Methods: We conducted a multi-centre, retrospective, cohort study involving 22 UK endocrine departme...

Background: Large series of patients elucidating the natural history of conservatively managed non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas (macroNFPAs) and relevant prognostic factors are not available.Objectives: Clarify long-term outcomes of macroNFPAs in large cohort of patients.Methods: Multi-centre [21 UK endocrine departments-UK NFPA consortium], retrospective, cohort study of ca...

Key learning points• Adrenocortical tumors comprise frequent benign adenomas and rare aggressive carcinomas (ACC).• cAMP/PKA pathway plays a central role in the pathogenesis of cortisol-producing adenomas - associated with Cushing syndrome, while molecular alterations in Wnt/β-catenin, Rb/p53 pathway and chromatin remodeling are frequent in ACCs.<p class="a...

The underlying basis for understanding of how brain control energy homeostasis, resides in a functional and coordinate communicating pathways between peripheral endocrine organs and the brain, in which the hypothalamus plays a pivotal role in the integration and processing of peripheral metabolic cues into satiety and feeding signals. Glial cells in particular astrocytes, as being an integral cell type of the neurovascular unit forming direct physical contacts with cerebral b...

Background: Graves disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism or thyrotoxicosis in children. The prevalance is 1 in 10 000 among children. It is important to reinforce the awareness amongst clinicians as patients can present with wide range of clinical symptoms. The range of presentations in our study included a child treated for one year for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to a child who had diarrhoea and abdominal pain and presented as appendicitis i...

Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine system disorder among women of reproductive age. Although some studies have suggested an association between PCOS and autoimmune thyroiditis, only a few cases indicating association between PCOS and Graves’ disease are reported.Case report: We present a woman aged 29 with Graves' disease certified by suppressed TSH (0.001 mUI/l), high FT4 (6.6 ng/dl) associated with elevated TRAb (...