Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Recent studies reported high soluble α-klotho concentrations (α-klotho) in active acromegaly, with normalization after successful therapy. We showed that α-klotho correlates to GH and even better to IGF-I. So far, most studies employed an immunoassay from Immuno-Biological Laboratories (IBL) for measurement of α-klotho, but other assays are available. Agreement between assays remains questionable since α-klotho exists in several isoforms: K...

Introduction: Our aim was to determine the comparable value of thyroglobulin in the washout of lymph node fine-needle aspirate (FNATg) and fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB).Materials and methods: We included 29 patients (37 FNAB) with history of differentiated thyroid cancer who underwent total thyroidectomy and were found to have suspicious cervical lymph nodes during follow-up. The referred population was evaluated on what concerns to gender, age, s...

Introduction: Primary hyperparathyroidism is the most common cause for hypercalcemia. Familial benign hypocalciuric hypercalcemia (FBHH) is an unusual autosomal dominant disease. The mutation in the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) determines a shift to the right in the calcemia set-point that inhibits PTH secretion. Generally asymptomatic, these patients present with mild hypercalcemia and hypophosphatemia, normal or slightly increased PTH levels and hypocalciuria. Daily calci...

Background: Pituitary apoplexy occurs when a tumor undergoes acute hemorrhage, infarct, or both. This often leads to acute severe symptoms (clinical) but can also occur without them and diagnosed on CT/MRI, surgery, pathology (subclinical). To investigate clinical and subclinical apoplexy in nonfunctioning tumors (n=221) from our database.Design: Retrospective review of clinical presentation, tumor characteristics and outcome of 24 patients, 11 fe...

Introduction: The association of autoimmune diseases in the same individual is common. It is well documented that Graves’ disease (GD) is associated to various autoimmune diseases, including: pernicious anemia, vitiligo, type 1 diabetes, Addison’s disease, systemic sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, Sjogren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) may be associated with rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogr...

Introduction: Von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHLD) is a rare autosomal-dominant syndrome, characterized by the development of multiple cysts and tumours, namely retinal and central nervous system hemangioblastomas, renal cell carcinoma (RCC), phaeochromocytoma, pancreatic endocrine tumours (PET) and endolymphatic sac tumours.Most germinal mutations are missense, related to a high risk for presenting phaechromocytoma (specially if Arg167Trp mutation im...

Introduction: High-resolution US and US FNA are techniques of great relevance in the evaluation of thyroid nodules. They are being used much more often by endocrinologists all over the world. In our Endocrinology Department, we started them in 2006; since then they have been progressively amplified. We present our results of US FNA performed from January 2007 until December 2009.Patients and methods: Two thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven FNA were ...

Background: Somatostatin analogues are very useful in the treatment of symptomatic neuroendocrine tumours, but effects on proliferation remain unclear. Overexpression of the proto-oncogene protein kinase Akt has been demonstrated in certain endocrine tumours, and activates downstream proteins including mTOR and p70S6K, which play a significant role in cell growth and proliferation. We have therefore explored the site of action of somatostatin in causing inhibition of prolifera...

Introduction: Dapagliflozin is an oral antidiabetic drug, recently approved for type 2 diabetes and is a sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitor (iSGLT2). Its mechanism of action is glycosuria induction, associated with lowering glycemia. The effects of SGLT2 inhibition are insulin-independent, and efficacy is not affected by declining β-cell function or insulin resistance. Additional benefits: weight loss, reduction in blood pressure, lower inciden...

Background: Soluble alpha klotho (sαKL) is high in active acromegaly, normalizes after disease control, and therefore is suggested as a new biomarker for growth hormone (GH) excess. However, little is known about the impact of biological variables other than GH.Methods: Serum sαKL (pg/ml) was measured by ELISA (IBL, Hamburg, Germany). We first evaluated pre-analytical stability, defined a reference interval for sαKL in healthy subjects (A:...