Endocrine Abstracts

Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is a rare but severe disease associated with an increased mortality especially due to cardiovascular diseases, and associated with various systemic complications, including hypertension, glucose intolerance or diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and coagulopathy. Few studies have systematically evaluated the mortality of CS in a large and worldwide population of CS. The MISSION study is a retrospective study aimed at assessing the mortality in a large ...

Introduction: Growth Hormone (GH) receptors are expressed on, and GH is secreted by, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). However, the role of GH in immunity has remained elusive and studies have given conflicting results. Experimental data strongly implicates a role for pituitary GH in the immune response of rodents. The data from knockout mice suggests that GH acts not as an obligate immunoregulator but as an anabolic and stress-modulating hormone. Despite the c...

Introduction: Somatostatin analogues (SSA) represent the main therapeutic option in patients affected with functioning well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NET). However, after a variable time from the start of the therapy tachyphylaxys may cause lack of control of clinical syndrome and progression of the disease.Aim: The aim of this preliminary study was to evaluate efficacy in terms of reduction of circulating markers, control of the clinical syn...

Introduction: The clinical features and complications of Cushing’s syndrome result from chronic excess of circulating cortisol, typically quantified by 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC). LCI699 is a potent inhibitor of 11β-hydroxylase. Since 11β-hydroxylase catalyzes the final step of cortisol synthesis, LCI699 is a potential new treatment for all forms of Cushing’s syndrome.Methods: Adult patients with mild-to-severe Cushing’s di...

CAH has been described to be associated to infertility and semen abnormalities in 40–70% of adult male patients, because of hypogonodotropic hypogonadism, consequent to the increased levels of sex steroids, but mostly because of the frequent presence of testicular adrenal rest tumors. The aim of the current study was to evaluate semen parameters and hormonal setting in a subset of men with CAH. Fourteen patients with classical CAH due to 21-HD (six with simple virilizing,...

Background: The prostate cancer (CaP) is among the most commonly diagnosed cancers, accounting for about 20% of all newly diagnosed cancers. Subject of recent studies is the role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of CaP. Literature data speculated about the role of vitamin D in the progression of Cap. In addition, several studies have shown an association between VDR gene polymorphism FokI and CaP especially in the Asian population.Objective: The aim of t...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a systemic disease frequently characterized by hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, endothelial dysfunction and diseases classically associated with an increased incidence of erectile dysfunction (ED) (hypertension, dyslipidemia, impaired glucose metabolism) and premature ejaculation (prostatic disease). Furthermore, the high prevalence of ED may negatively affect ejaculatory function. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ejaculatory function of ...

Introduction: Acromegaly is frequently characterized by hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, endothelial dysfunction, hypertension and impaired glucose and lipid metabolism, classically associated with impaired sexual function (SF). There are no literature data on the SF in acromegaly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the SF of patients with acromegaly.Patients and methods: Twenty-two patients (47.8±8.6 years) were enrolled into the study. Among ...

Introduction: Rapid and sustained decreases in UFC and significant improvements in signs and symptoms were seen in a large, randomized, 12-month phase III study of pasireotide in Cushing’s disease. The safety profile of pasireotide was found to be similar to that of other somatostatin analogues, with the exception of hyperglycemia-related AEs (reported in 72.8% of patients). This abstract reports safety data from a 12-month extension to this phase III trial.<p class="...

Introduction: The large, randomized, phase III study of pasireotide in Cushing’s disease found that pasireotide treatment resulted in rapid and sustained decreases in UFC levels and in significant improvements in signs and symptoms over 12 months of treatment. A 12-month extension of this trial has recently completed, and the results are reported here.Methods: Patients with persistent/recurrent or de novo (if not surgical candidates) Cushing&...