Endocrine Abstracts

The first-line treatment of Cushing’s disease is surgery, although it is effective in inducing a long-term remission in around 50% of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). Nowadays, no pituitary tumor-directed medical treatment is available with the exception of cabergoline, which has been recently demonstrated to control cortisol secretion without major side effects in around 40% of patients with Cushing’s disease. Cabergoline has been recently demonstrated to ...

Acromegaly is known to be associated to an increased cardiovascular risk, due to the increased prevalence of glucose intolerance and dyslipidemia and pre-atherosclerotic lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of treatment with the GH receptor antagonist pegvisomant on cardiovascular risk and atherosclerosis in patients with acromegaly resistant to somatostatin analogues. Twelve patients (4 m, 8 f, 28–58 yrs) and 24 sex-, age- and BMI-matched controls en...

Dopamine agonists have been used as first or adjunctive therapy for acromegaly for many years, but relatively few studies have assessed the efficacy of a newer agonist, cabergoline (CAB) alone or in combination with somatostatin analogues (SSA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of combined treatment with SSA plus CAB in patients with acromegaly and resistance to SSA, defined as lack of normalization of IGF-I levels after long-term (>1 year) and hig...

Background: The response to first-generation long-acting somatostatin analogues (LA-SSA) treatment in acromegaly depends on the expression of the somatostatin receptor (SSTR) subtypes. In contrast to octreotide and lanreotide which preferentially bind to SSTR2, pasireotide targets multiple SSTRs, with the highest binding affinity for SSTR5. It has previously been suggested that SSTR5 expression could predict the response to pasireotide LAR (PAS-LAR) treatment in acromegaly.</p...

Background: Temozolomide (TMZ) has been suggested as a treatment option for patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (PNETs). The tumour response to TMZ has been linked to expression levels of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) and components of the mismatch repair (MMR) system. However, there is no in vitro data on TMZ sensitivity and the expression of MGMT and MMR components in PNETs. Moreover, the effect of TMZ exposure on chemosensitivity and exp...

Low levels of testosterone and SHBG levels are often present in subjects with overweight and obesity; functional hypogonadism further alters the metabolic balance and may drag subjects in a sort of vicious cycle, reducing exercise and energy expenditure. The very low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) has been reported to rapidly reduce body weight, glycaemia and insulinemia, but its effects on total testosterone (TT) and SHBG levels are less clear. We thus aimed to evaluate the r...

Background: Cell membrane fluidity of erythrocytes in patients with type 2 diabetes can be influenced by glycosylation processes, changes in lipid homeostasis and oxidative stress.Objectives: We have measured red blood cell membrane fluidity looking for differences between healthy people and diabetic subjects and also between diabetic patients affected by macroangiopathy (vascular diabetic foot) and not.Methods: We have enrolled 32...

Background: Functioning gonadotroph adenomas (GA) account for 20 to 25% of all pituitary adenomas. Clinical presentation consists in multiple ovarian follicles and cysts, higher estradiol level and endometrial hyperplasia. The treatment of choice is transphenoidal tumor resection.Case Presentation: A 40 year old woman presented with abdominal pain and menstrual cycle dysfunctions. Hormonal evaluation showed: FSH:13.8 mU/ml, estradiol:1549 pg/ml, PRL:81.7...

Selpercatinib is a specific RET inhibitor, highly effective in the treatment of advanced RET-mutant medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). The consequences of selpercatinib administration in MTC patients who have not undergone thyroid surgery are still unknown. We report the case of an 84-year-old man undergoing investigations for worsening diarrhea and weight loss. Upon a neck ultrasound scan and blood exams that pointed out high levels of both calcitonin (CT, 20.583 ng/l) and ca...

Background: Screening algorithms for the identification of growth-disorders are routinely used in several countries. In the UK, the use of the Coventry consensus for the referral of children with suspected growth-disorders performs poorly compared to more sophisticated screening mechanisms used elsewhere. We aimed to test an algorithm developed to screen for growth-disorders in 2- to 8-year-old UK children.Methods: The a...