Endocrine Abstracts

Insulin autoimmune syndrome (IAS) is a very rare cause of hypoglycaemia in western countries. One proposed mechanism is anti-insulin antibody capture of prandial insulin followed by the dissociation of insulin from anti-insulin antibody. The first objective was to study the relationship between glucose, insulin and C-peptide during a prolonged glucose load in two patients with active IAS. The second was to study the variation of these parameters between the active and the reco...

Glucocorticoids (Gc) are potent anti-inflammatory agents, but their clinical use is limited by their significant side effects. The effects of glucocorticoids are mediated by the cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which regulates transcription by transactivation or transrepression. Independent of these genomic effects of the GR are other, very rapid non-genomic effects.The glucocorticoid receptor forms a complex with hsp90, FKBP51, FKBP52 and cyp40 i...

Background: The PCSK9 inhibitors (PCSKi), evolocumab and alirocumab, were approved by NICE in 2016, and have since proved to be efficacious in lowering LDL-C. Yet little is known about their long-term adverse effects. Genetic studies have shown patients with PCSK9 loss-of-function variants are at increased risk of T2DM. Similarly, analyses of an adverse event database found increased reports of PCSK9i-related hyperglycaemia. Meta-analyses have suggested that P...

Introduction: Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) allows classification of subjects in 3 groups, depending on glycaemia 120 minutes after 75 g glucose ingestion: normal (glycaemia < 1.4 g/L), glucose intolerant (1.4–2 g/L) and diabetic (>2 g/L). Five insulin profiles associated with different incidence rates of diabetes over 10 years of follow-up have also previously been described. Insulin measurement is very sensible to hemolysis and can advantageously be replace...

Background: The ‘intact’ parathyroid hormone (PTH) assays recognizes PTH (1–84) as well as amino terminally truncated fragments (C-PTH fragments). The present study investigated whether the use of plasma PTH-(1–84)/C-PTH fragment ratio enhances the noninvasive assessment of bone metabolism in patients on dialysis.Methods: Blood samples of 45 healthy subjects with normal ‘intact’-PTH values and 135 samples of dialysis patient...

IntroductionDiabetes mellitus (DM) is considered as equivalent to cardiovascular disease (CVD), so the intensive control of all risk factors for CVD in patients with DM is recommended. Risk factors for CVD include: dyslipidemia, hypertension, smoking, family history of CVD and albuminuria. In addition to being a sensitive and reliable marker for evaluation of kidney function, research suggests that cystatin C may be a useful predictor for the detection a...

Background: Optimal testing of beta-cell dysfunction is still elusive. Oral based solid-food tests could superiorly approximate real-life stimulation by incorporating incretin activation. Increased body fat was recently associated with better preserved beta-cell secretory response, due to gluco-lipotoxicity induced adaptation.Objective: To assess C-peptide response to standardised test meal (STM) and its dependency on subject characteristics in newly dia...

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) plays a pivotal role in maturation and stabilization of proteins in conditions of stress. Many HSP90 client proteins are involved in oncogenic signaling and cancer progression, therefore HSP90 inhibitors have a potential as pharmaceutical agents. We reported a strong HSP90 overexpression in corticotroph adenomas and the treatment with C-terminal HSP90 inhibitors has potent anti-tumorigenic and anti-secretory effects in these tumors in vitro</e...

In the last years estrogens have emerged as important regulators in male reproductive function. Spermatogenesis depends on the tight control of germ cell apoptosis and several studies indicated estrogens as playing a role in this process. The stem cell factor (SCF), a membrane-bound cytokine, and its receptor (c-kit), and the Fas ligand (FasL)/Fas receptor (FasR) system are powerful mechanisms controlling germ cell proliferation and apoptosis through the direct membrane commun...

Thyroid C cells produce bioregulatory peptid calcitonin (CT), which lowers plasma calcium (Ca) and acts as an inhibitor of bone resorption. In this study we investigated the effects of tamoxifen, as a selective estrogen receptor modulator on thyroid C cells and skeletal changes in middle-aged orchidectomized (Orx) rats as an animal model of male osteoporosis. Fifteen-month-old male Wistar rats were divided into Orx and a sham-operated (SO) groups. Two weeks after gonadectomy, ...