Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) in remission show residual cardiometabolic derangements leading to increased cardiovascular risk. Impaired characteristics of gut microbiome (dysbiosis), such as richness, diversity and composition, have been associated with several cardiometabolic risk factors, including obesity, insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. Whether CS patients present with intestinal dysbiosis is currently unknown. Our study was aimed at evalu...

Introduction: Previous results of our group, presented in the ECE last year, showed a lower gene expression of proconvertase PC1/3, involved in the processing of POMC, in silent corticotroph tumors (sCT) than in functioning ones (fCT), overall and in microadenomas. The aim of the present study was to quantify the protein expression of convertases involved in the processing of POMC (PC1/3) and in the degradation of ACTH (PC2, CPE and PAM) in a series of CT.</p...

Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) is a major cardiovascular (CV) risk factor and independent predictor of the increased mortality in patients with acromegaly. Surgical cure of acromegaly is associated with improvement in blood pressure (BP) levels, however little is known on the effect of pegvisomant (PEGV) treatment on HTN.Methods/design: ACROSTUDY is an open-label, international, prospective, non-interventional study monitoring the long-term safety of P...

Background: Management of patients with CAH remains challenging. There is increasing evidence to suggest that failure to optimize treatment during childhood not only affects final height but also leads to psychological and psychiatric problems. Previous qualitative structural T2-weighted MRI studies have identified white matter hyper-intensities in up to 46% of CAH patients. The nature and functional relevance of these abnormalities remains unknown.Objec...

Introduction: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a protein that has been linked to several cardiovascular risk factors and bone status. Stress and corticosteroid exposure can affect BDNF levels, although this has never been studied in Cushing’s syndrome (CS). The aims of this study were to establish if BDNF levels were reduced in CS and to check possible associations to cardiovascular risk factors and bone status.Methods: 52 patients (18 ac...

Introduction: Acromegaly is associated with increased bone turnover and skeletal fragility. Although the GH/IGF1 system plays an important role in bone homeostasis, effects of GH excess on the Wnt signalling pathway are to be determined. Bone quantitative CT (QCT) provides a volumetric, tridimensional measure of bone mass at the trabecular and cortical level.Aim: i) To compare volumetric bone density (vBMD) using QCT in patients with acromegaly vs gender...

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB), including obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), is associated with excessive daytime somnolence, and impacts significantly on quality of life in affected individuals. It also predisposes to premature cardiovascular (hypertension, congestive cardiac failure, myocardial infarction, sudden death, and stroke) and metabolic (diabetes mellitus and dyslipidaemia) dysfunction.SDB is a well-recognised complication of acromegaly. In mos...

Introduction: Non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NCCAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency is one of the most frequent autosomal recessive diseases. Genetic analysis performed for genetic counselling revealed a miscorrelation with the clinical diagnosis in several patients at our centre.Aim: Confirm the genetic diagnosis of NCCAH in women attended for this condition.Materials and methods: Consecutive patients attended at o...

Background: GH deficiency is associated with reduction in IQ and neural volumes (globus pallidum and thalamus). Significant relationships between IGF1, IGFBP3 and brain volumes have also been described in children born extremely preterm (total brain volume and cerebellum). No published studies report the relationship between markers of GH status and brain volumes in healthy children.Methods: Cognitive assessment, MRI brain and measurement of IGF1 and IGF...

Metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance persist 5 years after remission of Cushing’s syndrome (CS). Adiponectin and visfatin are two adipokines highly expressed in adipose tissue. Adiponectin is reduced in obesity and insulin-resistant states; visfatin has been shown in some studies to be reduced in obesity. The aim was to evaluate visfatin and adiponectin levels, body composition, insulin resistance and prevalence of metabolic syndrome in a cohort of women with long-te...