Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Endocannabinoids (CBs) are novel lipid mediators that modulate appetitive behaviour and energy metabolism. The overactivation of the endocannabinoid system plays an important role in obesity. Endocannabinoids may regulate the lipid metabolism through their receptors (CB1 and CB2) in liver and adipose tissue. 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD1) type 1 regulates the local availability of active glucocorticoid, potent inductors of adipogenic different...

GH replacement is widely used in adults with hypopituitarism, but its effect on tumor occurrence and pituitary tumor recurrence is unknown. Furthermore, in literature there are scant with short follow-up time. The available data do not seem to suggest that rhGH replacement increased the incidence of regrowth of pituitary tumor and of cancer in adults with GHD, provided that IGF-1 concentrations remain within the normal range for age.The aim of our study ...

TSH secreting tumours (TSH-omas) are uncommon, accounting for less than 2% of pituitary tumours. Typically, patients with such tumours demonstrate hyperthyroidism with detectable or elevated TSH levels, and show little response to TRH stimulation. Treatment is controversial: typically surgery, radiotherapy or somatostatin analogues.We present a 22 year-old man who was found to be tachycardic on joining a gym in 2003. There were no other symptoms or signs...

Introduction: In humans, testosterone treatment affects body fat distribution and metabolism. The mechanisms involved in these processes are not yet fully understood. We investigated whether sex hormones modulate the expression and activity of type1 11-β-hydroxy-steroid-dehydrogenase (11β-HSD1). 11β-HSD1 catalyses the conversion of inactive cortisone into active cortisol, a key step for the development of functional adipocytes. Based on previous studies an inhib...

Osteoprotegerin (OPG) has been identified as a decoy receptor that inhibits osteoclast differentiation and recently as a paracrine regulator of vascular calcification. OPG is suppressed by glucocorticoid administration. In this study, we evaluated OPG and bone metabolism in Cushing’s syndrome (CS) before and after surgical treatment. Twenty-nine patients with CS (26 women and 3 men, mean age: 40.7–2.8 years) and 27 age and sex-matched controls have been studied for b...

Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is associated with hypercoagulable state, mainly dependent on corticosteroid-induced increase of von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels, even though this does not affects all patients. In normals plasma VWF levels are genetically determined by ABO blood groups and polymorphisms G/C −1793, C/T −1234, A/G −1185, G/A −1050 of VWF promoter. These SNPs segregate as haplotype 1 (G/C/A/G) and haplotype 2 (C/T/G/A) with genotype 1/1 (GG...

Background: Thyroid carcinoma represents the most frequent form of cancer of the endocrine glands. In Italy, temporal trend shows a significant increase of incidence rates. Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common thyroid malignancy. Papillary thyroid carcinoma happens to be a multicentric tumor and trends to spread to the lymph nodes in the early stage of the disease. Thus early diagnosis is vital to improve the outcome for patients with thyroid cancer. The aim of this stu...

Background: Amyloidosis is an important etiological factor of end stage renal disease. Apart from major target organs as cardiovascular, respiratory and gastrointestinal system, endocrine organs can also be involved. Amyloid goitre was described for the first time by Beckmann in 1858. Approximately 200 cases of amyloid goiter have been reported in English literature.Case presentation: The patient is a 67-year-old woman. The patient referred in 1989 the p...

Adults with hypopituitarism are known to have reduced life expectancy with a 2-fold higher risk of death for cardiovascular disease compared with controls. In Italy, to identify individuals at high risk for cardiovascular disease, the function of the Progetto CUORE has been identified and the global cardiovascular risk score has been built using data from different Italian cohorts. To assess the global cardiovascular risk score in adult hypopituitaric patients: 108 hypopituita...

Background: Cushing’s syndrome results from chronic exposure to excessive levels of glucocorticoids (GC). The clinical manifestations associated with hypercortisolaemia are variable and differ widely in severity, including hypertension, apparent obesity and metabolic aberrations such as diabetes, dyslipidaemia, ultimately leading to changes similar to the metabolic syndrome. We hypothesised that GC might influence the expression of the genes involved in lipogenesis and gl...