Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are malignant neoplasms that can be associated with specific hormonal syndromes. We describe a novel syndrome of postmenopausal vaginal bleeding and ovarian estradiol overproduction due to ovarian NET localizations.Methods: A clinical workup was performed for 2 index patients with ovarian metastases of small bowel neuroendocrine tumors and symptoms of postmenopausal vaginal bleeding. Ovarian tissue was collected af...

Background: Adrenal lipid poor adenoma (LPA) and adrenocortical cancer (ACC) may overlap in computerized tomography (CT). Radiomics recently emerged as new tool for malignant behavior identification.Aim: To assess radiomics utility for identification of ACC and LPA in adrenocortical masses with unenhanced (UE) CT scan attenuation≥10 Hounsfield Unit (HU).Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 50 patients, 38 radiologically defin...

Background: The initiation of puberty is heralded by increasing gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion from the hypothalamus. During embryonic life the GnRH neuroendocrine network develops thanks to a coordinated migration of neurons from the nasal placode to the forebrain. Our group has previously demonstrated that dysregulation in GnRH neuronal migration leads to delayed pubertal onset. Late puberty affects up to 2% of the population and is associated with adverse h...

Background: Previous studies indicate that PAS-LAR can achieve control of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) levels and may reduce tumor size, however a subset of acromegaly patients responds poorly. T2-signal intensity, somatostatin receptor (SST) subtype 2 and 5 expression, and the response to first-generation somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs) are recognized predictors of therapy response. Valid prediction of the response to PAS-LAR can alter treatment stratification.</...

Background: Prolactinomas are the most frequent secreting pituitary adenomas encountered in the clinical setting. Cabergoline is considered the mainstay medical treatment and transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) is recommended for patients that are medically resistant to dopamine agonist therapy. Resistance to dopamine agonists is commonly defined as failure to normalize prolactin and less than 50% decrease in tumor diameter at a maximal labeled dose of 2.0 mg/week. Pasireotide LAR (...

Chronic cortisol excess as a consequence of ACTH overproduction from a pituitary tumour is responsible for the development of Cushing’s disease (CD). The first-line treatment for CD is pituitary surgery, but medical treatment is an alternative second-line approach to control cortisol excess. Among pharmacological agents, the adrenal-blocking drug ketoconazole (KT), is able to control cortisol excess in the majority of patients with CD. During KT treatment, the adrenal blo...

Introduction: The steroidogenesis inhibitors ketoconazole and metyrapone are frequently used for treatment of Cushing’s syndrome, but can cause side effects. LCI699 is a known 11β-hydroxylase inhibitor, but effects on other steroidogenic enzymes are unknown. We aimed to compare effects of LCI699, ketoconazole, and metyrapone in vitro.Methods: HAC-15 cells, with or without 10 nM ACTH, and three primary human adrenocortical adenoma cultu...

Background: Self-limited DP often segregates in an autosomal dominant pattern, but in the majority of patients the neuroendocrine pathophysiology and its genetic regulation remain unclear. By comparison, many genes have been identified where loss-of-function mutations lead to IHH. Despite likely overlap between the pathophysiology of DP and conditions of GnRH deficiency, few studies have examined the contribution of mutations in IHH genes to the phenotype of DP.<p class="a...

TERT promoter mutations (chr5: 1 295 228C>T e chr5: 1 295 250C>T) were recently described in thyroid tumors, with a prevalence ranging 8–25% in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). We and others reported that these mutations strongly associate with a poor outcome in differentiated thyroid cancers. Aim of the present study was to further investigate the prognostic role of both TERT promoter (TERTMUT) and BRAF<...

Introduction: Among molecular markers proposed to improve diagnosis of thyroid nodules, mutations in telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter have been correlated to malignant tumors with highest recurrence and decreased patient’s survival. This suggests an important role of TERT mutational analysis in the clinical diagnosis and management of thyroid cancer patients. In this study, we investigate the potential use of core needle biopsy (CNB) for the preoperative a...