Endocrine Abstracts

Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma (ATC) is the most aggressive thyroid gland malignancy characterized by undifferentiated morphology. It has been suggested that cancer stem cells (CSCs) might play a central role in ATC. Previously on the basis of CD133 positivity, our group suggested that CD133+ cancer stem cells (CSCs) might play a central role in ATC. Here we analyzed a panel of different stem cell markers in order to identify a peculiar CSC pattern in ATC....

Introduction: Recent studies have elucidated that C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), a member of natriuretic peptide family, is a potent stimulator of endochondral bone growth; CNP and its membranous guanylyl cyclase receptor, GC-B are expressed in growth plate, and mice with targeted overexpression of CNP in growth plate exhibit prominent skeletal overgrowth, whereas CNP or GC-B knockout mice develop severely short stature phenotype owing to their impaired endochondral bone gr...

Background: Conventional management of Interferon-α-Induced Hyperthyroidism (IIH) with radioactive iodine (RAI) may be used when treatment with β blockers or antithyroid drugs (ATD), proves ineffective or is contraindicated.Case presentation: We present a 38-year-old woman who has been treated with combined pegylated interferon alpha (INF-α) and Ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C. Destructive thyrotoxicosis appeared after four months of con...

Introduction: In endocrine tumours, such as that of the breast, the protein survivin has emerged as a unique regulator of cell death. We have previously shown that bFGF regulates survivin expression through the MAP kinase cascade. The transcriptional complex myc/max is an oncogene that lies downstream of the MAP kinase pathway suggesting a possible role in survivin's regulation.Aim: To determine if bFGF can mediate survivin expression by signalling throu...

In contrast to bone formation biomarkers, reliable bone resorption biomarkers have not been available in serum. Recently, automated measurement of C-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I), has been promoted as a reliable indicator of bone resorption. The objective of the study was to examine the correlation of CTX-I, with the traditional urinary markers, N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX-I) and deoxypyridinoline (DPD) in a series of patients with Pag...

Different hypothesis exist about the mechanism of glycose control after bariatric surgery involving intestinal bypass. The aim of our study was to determine the insulin and C-peptide response after test meal (Fresubin drink a 200 ml; 200 kcal, 15% protein, 30% fat and 55% carbohydrate) before (day 0) and 5 days after gastric by pass surgery. Glycaemia (mmol/l; glucose oxidase), insulin (ECLIA, Roche Diagnostics, pmol/l) and C-peptide (ECLIA, Roche Diagnostics, pmol/l) were det...

The complex etiology of hyperprolactinemia was represented, in our study group (426 cases hospitalized during the period 2000 – 2010; F/M ratio=372/54; age (years)=40.29±15.57), by the following entities: prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors (11.50%), growth hormone and prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors (1.64%), pituitary stalk compression (7.98%), primary myxedema (41.08%), polycystic ovary syndrome – PCOS (24.65%), iatrogenesis (8.69%) and chronic renal ins...

Introduction: Interferon-α (IFN-α) exerts different immune effects and is used in current therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. One of the side-effects of IFN-α therapy is interferon-induced thyroiditis (IIT). The role of lymphocyte subpopulations in IIT remains to be defined.Objective: This study was conducted to assess different peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations, mainly regulatory CD4+CD25+...

Background and aims: The ratio of TG/ HDL-C can identify cardiometabolic risk and cardiovascular disease. The visceral adiposity index (VAI) is a sex-specific index, in which measurements of body mass index and waist circumference are combined with TG and HDL-C concentrations. T? study association between VAI and TG/HDL-C and the value of TG/HDL-C ratio as a marker of disfunction of visceral adiposity tissue at patients with acromegaly.Subjects and metho...

Introduction: Recently, it was suggested that insulin resistance index using C-peptide (CIR) could be a better marker of insulin resistance than homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to investigate performance of CIR index in PCOS subjects.Methods: We evaluated 187 PCOS women (PCOS: 25.38±6.32 kg/m2; 26.01±5.16 years) diagnosed using ESHRE/ASRM criteria and 42 heal...