Endocrine Abstracts

Enzalutamide (Enza) is a second-generation antiandrogen currently used in the clinic for treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. It significantly prolonged survival of men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer after chemotherapy by a median of 4.8 months in comparison to the placebo group. However, in a subset of patient’s beneficial effect of Enza cannot be observed, while others who initially respond eventually develop resistance towards the treatment. U...

Aims: Emerging data indicate that an impaired release of adipose tissue-derived adipokines could play a pivotal role in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to evaluate whether circulating levels or visceral adipose tissue (VAT) expression of recently described adipokines associate with the histopathological disease severity and thus may contribute to the progression of pure fatty liver into an inflammatory and insulin resistant NASH status.</...

Background: Endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is caused by overproduction of cortisol. Current first-line screening tests for CS can produce false positive results due to medication use and stress, rely heavily on patient adherence to sampling instructions, and only measure short-term cortisol exposure which limits sensitivity. In general multiple tests are required to establish a diagnosis. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) offer a minimally invasive way to measure lon...

Background: Childhood obesity is an increasing health problem, affecting over 40 million children aged 0–5 years worldwide. It is associated with premature onset of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Pathologically elevated cortisol is known to induce obesity and cardio-metabolic complications, suggesting cortisol is implicated in the onset of obesity. Indeed, recent pilot-studies showed an increase in hair cortisol concentrations in obese adults and adoles...

Introduction: Despite adequate treatment with LT4 monotherapy, many patients with primary hypothyroidism still report complaints, as this treatment can not exactly imitate the endogenous homeostasis. We examined whether the different domains of HR-QOL were affected by the existence of a thyroid disorder and use of LT4 substitution, and whether a lower ratio of free triiodothyronine (fT3)–free thyroxine (fT4)</sup...

Objective: Pituitary diseases cause a wide range of local and systemic symptoms and severely affect patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL), which can be monitored using both disease-specific and generic questionnaires. The most frequently used generic HRQoL questionnaire is the Short Form-36 (SF-36), generating a mental (MCS) and physical component score (PCS). The shorter 12-item version (SF-12) can improve efficiency of patient monitoring and outcome measurem...

Background: The treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) remains dependent on Androgen Receptor (AR) mediated signalling, thus understanding all components involved in testosterone signalling in these men is of utmost importance. Recent studies have identified 11-ketotestosterone (11 KT) as a potent androgen receptor (AR) agonist present in humans. However, it is unknown if 11 KT is present at physiologically relevant concentrations in CRPC patients....

Introduction: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) has a reported annual incidence of 0.5–2.0 cases per million individuals. Updated population-based studies on incidence are lacking. The aim of this nationwide survey was to describe the incidence and survival rate of ACC in the Netherlands. Secondary objectives were to evaluate changes in survival rates and in the number of patients undergoing surgery.Methods: All ACC patients registered in the Netherlan...

Efflux transporters in the blood–testis barrier (BTB) prevent entry and accumulation of xenobiotics in testis but are also involved in local transport of steroid hormones. Among these are the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1) and multidrug resistance proteins 1 (MRP1/ABCC1) and 4 (MRP4/ABCC4). Here, we studied the interaction of suggested endocrine disruptors (EDCs) bisphenol A (BPA), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), bis(...

Introduction: The diagnosis of Cushing’s Syndrome (CS) and in particular cyclic CS can be complicated. Standard screening tests for CS are the measurement of cortisol in 24-hours urine collections and in midnight saliva. In case of cyclic CS, results of these tests can be normal in between periods of hypercortisolism. The development of a method to measure cortisol in scalp hair provides the opportunity to investigate historical cortisol levels of months to years ago, wit...