Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Active acromegaly induces insulin resistance despite a lean phenotype, both of which reverse by curative surgery. The impact of somatostatin analogue treatment on insulin sensitivity is less certain and may be offset by its anti-lipogenic effects.Aim: To study insulin sensitivity, body composition and extopic lipid content in newly diagnosed patients with acromegaly before and ≥6 months after successful surgical or medical treatment.</p...

Background: GH potently stimulates collagen turnover which underlies its anabolic effects on bone in children, whereas it may promote fibrosis in adults. Fibroblast activation protein-α (FAPα) is involved in collagen turnover by its collagen-cleaving and fibroblast-stimulating activity, which predominantly is expressed in association with fibrosis. FAPα also cleaves and inactivates fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a multi-faceted metabolic hormone. We have p...

Background: It is well-known that growth hormone (GH) potently stimulates collagen turnover and it is associated with fibrosis in several tissues, but the mechanisms involved in GH-stimulated fibrosis are poorly elucidated. Fibroblast activation protein-α (FAPα) is an enzyme that can cleave collagens and is expressed almost only under pathological conditions such as fibrosis. FAPα also cleaves and inactivates fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), which is a circu...

Background: Growth Hormone (GH) reversibly suppresses insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, but less is known about GH effects on glucose metabolism in the basal state. Somatostatin suppresses GH as well as insulin, and may also exert direct effects in skeletal muscle. This may have therapeutic implications in the treatment of acromegalic patients with a somatostatin analogue (SA).Aim: To study basal and insulin-stimulated glucose metabol...

Background: Cross-sectional studies in small and selected populations indicate a relatively high prevalence of incipient and/or subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (CS) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), which could have therapeutic implications.Aim: To estimate the prevalence of CS in a large, unselected cohort of recently diagnosed T2D patients.Methods: A total of 384 consecutive out – patients with T2D diagnosed after ...

Background: Hypercortisolism is prevalent in type 2 diabetes (T2D), but analytical and functional uncertainties prevail. Measurement of salivary cortisol is considered an expedient screening method for hypercortisolism, but its usefulness in the context of T2D is uncertain.Aim: To compare late night salivary cortisol (LNSC) with the 1 mg overnight dexamethasone suppression test (DST), which was considered ‘reference standard’, in T2D.<p cla...

Context: Acromegaly is a rare and insidious disease associated with severe somatic morbidity but data on socioeconomic status are scarce.Objective: To study the socioeconomic status in acromegaly in a population based, nationwide follow-up study.Patients and Methods: All incident cases of acromegaly (n = 576) during the period 1997–2010 were included, representing 10.116 years at risk. For every patient, 100 pers...

Background: Serum IGFI measurements are used during GH replacement in GHDA for titration of the GH dose, to monitor compliance and to avoid overdosing, but it is uncertain if pretreatment IGFI is a determinant of the GH dose or the response to GH treatment.Methods: Data from the NordiNet IOS have been analyzed to determine pretreatment serum IGFI concentrations in GHDA and to analyze if they influence the GH starting dose and/or the therapeutic response ...

Background: Data from several clinical studies have demonstrated the benefit of GH treatment in relation to bone mineral density and body composition in young adults who received GH treatment in childhood due to GHD1–3. There are recommendations to use a higher GH dose in the transition phase compared to the GH dose required during adulthood to mimic the endogenous GH secretion4,5.Methods: Data from NordiNet IOS have been analy...

Context: An interaction between gut-derived ghrelin, which is implicated in the regulation of short- and long-term energy balance, and thyroid function has previously been reported in patients with hyperthyroidism, in whom ghrelin levels are reversibly suppressed. In the present study, we measured total serum ghrelin levels and pertinent metabolic indices in hypothyroid patients before end after L-thyroxin replacement.Patients and methods:...