Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: In patients with unilateral adrenal incidentaloma (AI) and mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS) the best therapeutic approach is still a matter of debate. The only available randomized study showed a short-term beneficial effect of surgery on diabetes and hypertension. Importantly, recent data demonstrated that MACS is associated to an increased risk of mortality, especially due to cardiovascular causes.Study aim: to evaluate, in the m...

Most adrenal incidentalomas are benign and can be divided into nonfunctioning adrenal tumors (NFAT) and tumors with mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS). Several studies suggest that MACS may result in an increased risk for mortality and cardiometabolic disease. The cardiometabolic risk in MACS is possibly related to the increased frequency of cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) induced by cortisol excess. This is confirmed by ...

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Embryonic transcription factors have been involved in tumourigenesis. The transcription factor TBX1 regulates the embryonic parathyroid cells fate. Indeed, it has never been investigated in human adult parathyroids. Here, expression, function and regulation of the TBX1 gene were analyzed in adult normal and tumour parathyroid tissues. Immunohistochemistry identified 30–70% (mean±S.E.M, 52.0±7.3%) of cells expressing TBX1 at nuclear levels...

An embryonic gene signature has been suggested in parathyroid tumours. We investigated the expression of early embryonic stem cell (ESC) genes in parathyroid tumours. POU5F1/OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG transcripts were detected in almost all parathyroid adenomas (PAds; n=22) and atypical PAds (n=3), besides the variable expression of ESC genes KLF4, EGR1, and REX1/ZFP42. OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG proteins expression w...

Cancer cells and embryonic stem cells share many key biological properties and have common genetic signature: transcription factors regulating self-renewal and differentiation have been found expressed in human cancer cells. We focused our attention on TBX1, the gene involved in 22q11.2 microdeletion/DiGeorge syndrome, which is involved in heart, thymic and parathyroid cells differentiation.Real-time PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry de...

Tumour-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) are important players in tumour formation, growth, enhancement and metastasis. We firstly investigated the TAFs component in human parathyroid neoplasia from patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. Alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) has been used to identify activated TAFs (myofibroblasts). Culturing explants from parathyroid adenomas (PA, n=5), large spindle-shaped alpha-SMA+ cells outgrew from explants and the expression of...

In our previous investigation on microRNAs expression pattern in parathyroid carcinomas (Ca), we detected the over-expression of microRNAs belonging to C19MC, the largest human cluster on chromosome 19q13.41. In the present study, the analysis of the expression of selected C19MC and the closely distal MIR371-3 clusters microRNAs (MIR512-3p, MIR517C, MIR520H and MIR372) was extended to 11 Ca, 24 adenomas (Ad) and 6 normal glands. The four microRNAs was expressed in 11% of parat...

Tumour-associated myofibroblasts are activated fibroblasts known to influence many aspects of tumour development. Parathyroid tumours show increased microvessels and atypical/malignant tumours are characterized by fibrous bands suggesting activation of the stromal cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of myofibroblasts in parathyroid tumorigenesis. Human parathyroid tissues were analysed by specific immunostaining for the myofibroblast marker alpha-sm...

Parathyroid carcinoma is a rare cause of primary hyperparathyroidism. Though the loss of the oncosuppressor HRPT2 gene product, parafibromin, has been involved in the hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome and in a consistent set of sporadic parathyroid carcinomas, parathyroid carcinogenesis remains obscure. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a new class of small, non-coding RNAs implicated in embryonic development and cancer. A deregulated miRNA can induce the aberrant expression ...