Endocrine Abstracts

Background: More than 50% of adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) in adults are associated with cortisol excess that makes tumor management challenging and has a negative impact on patient outcome. Abiraterone acetate (AA) is an irreversible inhibitor of the 17α-hydroxylase/C17, 20-lyase (CYP17 enzyme) that is used in patients with prostate cancer, in whom it leads to suppression of cortisol and androgens. The aim of this study was to assess the activity of AA to control corti...

Background: Skeletal fragility is an important clinical issue in women with early-stage breast cancer and men with non-metastatic prostate cancer under hormonal hormone deprivation therapies (HDTs). Vertebral fractures (VFs) have been reported in a remarkable number of subjects exposed to HDT especially when the diagnosis of fractures is performed by a radiological and morphometric approach. Notably, prediction of fractures in this clinical setting is a challenge and determina...

Aberrant epigenetic features occurring in parathyroid tumors involve DNA methylation, histone methylation, and non-coding RNAs. RASSF1A and APC were frequently downregulated in human cancers. Here, we investigated RASSF1A and APC methylation status in a series of parathyroid tumors from Italian patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PAds, n=80), confirming RASSF1A and APC promoter methylation as a hallmark of sporadic parathyroi...

Introduction: Bone mineral density (BMD) is considered a valid surrogate of bone strength in postmenopausal women, however it lacks sensitivity in individual fracture risk assessment in the setting of women with early breast cancer (EBC) patients treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs). Indeed, mechanical resistance of bone only partially depends on bone quantity, and bone geometry and size play an important role in bone resistance to fractures. In this cross-sectional study, ...

Introduction: Non-functioning (NF), sporadic and MEN1 associated, G1-G2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) usually display an indolent course. Surgery is the first-choice treatment for localized tumors >2 cm. Unresectable or metastatic PanNETs expressing somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) are treated with somatostatin analogs (SSAs). The standard treatment for patients with PanNETs ≤ 2 cm is active surveillance (AS). Yet no evidence of the value of SSA treatment ...

Background: Cortisol excess is associated with a higher prevalence of hypertension (Hy), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and fragility fractures (FX). A possible association between T2D and fragility FX with the degree of glucocorticoid (GC) suppression and peripheral activation or sensitivity even in non-hypercortisolemic subjects has been previously suggested.Aim: To assess if the degree of GC suppression or peripheral sensitivity and activation are associated w...

Introduction: Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is an autosomal dominantly inherited endocrine tumor syndrome characterized by development of cancer in various endocrine organs, particularly in pituitary, parathyroid and pancreas. Moreover, in some cases, also non-endocrine tumors can be diagnosed, developing atypical phenotypes.Case report: We report herein the clinical history of a patient affected by MEN-1 syndrome who developed atypical feat...

Introduction: The presentation of new onset hyperandrogenism is extremely rare in postmenopausal women. In premenopausal women, the most common cause of androgen excess is polycystic ovary syndrome. In contrast, when hyperandrogenism develops in postmenopausal women, it is usually associated with other causes, such as ovarian hyperthecosis or an androgen secreting tumor. We describe 5 patients with hyperandrogenism (Table 1). Total Testosterone 0.06–0.86 ng/ml, free testo...

Introduction: Central diabetes insipidus (DI) is a common complication after pituitary surgery, but is transient in the majority of patients. The aim of our study is to determine the incidence and course of DI in the postoperative period and to characterize the factors associated with this disease.Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 44 patients (50% females) with a mean age of 54 years (24–83), treated with transsphenoidal (TSS) or transf...

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare tumor with poor prognosis and the only approved drug for advanced disease is mitotane. The cytochromes P450 (CYP) 2W1 and 2B6 are proposed predicting markers of sensitivity to mitotane treatment. Aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between CYP2W1 and/or CYP2B6 polymorphisms and response to mitotane in ACC.Methods: We performed a multicentric retrospective study including 182 ACC patients (F/M=121/61)...