Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Metastatic paragangliomas (PGL) and pheochromocytomas (PCC) are rare neuroendocrine diseases with an incidence of 2 to 8 people per million, a prevalence between 1:2500 and 1:6500 and a strong hereditary disposition. However, due to the rarity of the disease, there is relatively limited data on treatment options, including radionuclide therapy using radioisotope analogs of MIBG and dotatate. There are a few published small series on clinical benefits of treating PG...

Background: Paragangliomas of head and neck (HNPPGLs) are rare and mostly slow growing tumors arising from neural crest-derived cell clusters and have high rate of genetic mutation, up to 40% germline mutations and 30% somatic mutations.Methods: Retrospective review of institutional experience with clinical evaluation and management of HNPPGLs.Results: Among 174 patients with HNPPGLs diagnosed from 1981 to 2023, 116 (67%) were wome...

Background: There has been increasing interest in the relationship between lifestyle and NET. Results from previously published small observational studies indicate that smoking, alcohol and diabetes may contribute to NET development, but the reported data is conflicting. Additionally, little data is available on diet and physical activity. The aim of the current study is to investigate the association between lifestyle factors and NET development in a large prospective cohort...

Introduction: Following a National training programme for Endocrinologists to provide RAI treatment for benign thyroid disease, the ESHT NHS Trust started Radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment for benign thyroid disease a couple of years ago. Previously ESHT trust patients were referred to neighbouring trusts for RAI treatment.Data/Results: The data was collected over a 12-18 month period. A total of 34 patients received RAI treatment during this period; 28...

Background: Diabetes mellitus or more appropriately type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most heterogeneous form of diabetes which is caused by complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Although genome-wide analysis has found several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in association with T2DM, their documented role is ambiguous and very few studies have reported about the correlation of particular gene expression with T2DM. In this study, we aimed t...

Background: Magnesium, the second most abundant intracellular cation, plays a key role in cellular and metabolic reactions including protein synthesis, neurotransmission and electrolyte balance. There are no specific signs or symptoms of hypomagnesaemia and it can coexist with other electrolyte abnormalities. According to various surveys the prevalence of low Magnesium varies between 2–10% in hospitalized patients. However, there are no clear guidelines about when to scre...

Background: Although colonic polyps are associated with states of GH excess, no association with gastric polyps has been reported. We describe 2 patients who were treated with rhGH for non-GH deficient growth disorders and who were subsequently found to have gastric polyps.Patient 1: A girl aged 13.6 year with short stature was found to have Turner’s syndrome in the course of being investigated for abdominal pain, diarrhoea and rectal bleeding. Endo...

GH has diverse direct effects including the induction of lipolysis in adipocytes and mineralisation in bone. Interestingly, pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells can be isolated and cultured from adult bone marrow and induced to differentiate in vitro to both adipocytes and osteoblasts. GHR activation can be coupled to JAK2/STAT5 and the ERK (MAPK) pathway. We have therefore studied the evolution of GHR-associated cell signalling in adult rat BMSC’s during differentia...

Thyroid hormones play a major role in the metabolic function of mammalian cells and are of particular importance in the development of the fetal brain. The MCT8 gene has recently been shown to encode an active and specific thyroid hormone transporter. Recent reports have identified mutations in the MCT8 gene in several unrelated boys presenting with severe X-linked psychomotor retardation and elevated serum T3.Ontogeny of mRNA encoding MCT8 was examined ...

Two estrogen receptor isoforms are known to exist, ERα and ERβ. The expression of ER isoforms in breast cancer cell lines was studied to see whether both ERs, as well as any other variants, are expressed at the mRNA and protein level. Three breast cell lines: two which are known to be ER+ve (MCF7 and T47D) and one reported as ER-ve (MDA-MB231) were used in this experiment. For gene expression studies RT-PCR methodology was applied; primers were used that detect ER&#9...