Endocrine Abstracts

It is well established that most TSH effects on the thyroid gland, including stimulation of proliferation, thyroid hormone synthesis and expression of thyroid-specific genes, are transmitted mainly by the adenylate cyclise pathway. However, in human follicular cells and in rat FRTL-5 cells, TSH can also stimulate the β-isoforms of PLC that catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidyl-inositol 4,5-phosphate, yielding the second messengers DAG and inositol 1,4,5-phosphate facil...

Bronchial carcinoids (BC) are rare tumors originating from endocrine cells dispersed in the respiratory epithelium. Currently, the main BC treatment is surgery, that can be curative in most of the cases, but is not feasible for large, infiltrating and metastatic disease. In these settings, medical therapy is often tried, being mainly represented by chemotherapy and radiation in the attempt to reduce tumor mass, while somatostatin analogues are employed for symptomatic control....

Protein kinase C (PKC) is a key enzyme which regulates proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation, representing a pharmacological target for tumor therapy. PKC is a serin/threonin kinase involved in the control of neoplastic transformation, carcinogenesis, neoplastic invasion, chemoresistance. The role of PKC depends on the tissue and on the specific isoform, among the 11 identified so far. In particular, PKC beta II inhibits cell functions, while PKC delta has a protective ...

The change of aminoacid Arginine (CGG) to Glutamine (CAG) at position 171 (R171Q) in the MEN1 gene has been occasionally reported in MEN1 carriers, but also in 1.4 to 5% subjects among the general population, therefore it is still unclear whether it might represent a polymorphism and/or it has a role in tumourigenesis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the presence of the R171Q polymorphism in patients with MEN1-related states presenting for MEN1 genetic screening. F...

Glucose metabolism alterations are frequently observed in acromegalic patients. Somatostatin analogues (SSTA) are the most widely used drugs to treat acromegaly, since they inhibit GH and IGF-1 levels, reduce pituitary mass, but can affect glucose metabolism. Aim of our study was to evaluate glucose metabolism alterations in acromegalic patients cured after surgery and in patients with active disease during treatment with SSTA. We studied 10 patients (group A, 5F, 55.66±1...

Bronchopulmonary endocrine tumors represent 25–30% of lung neoplasms. Surgery provides good survival for differentiated tumors (typical and atypical carcinoids), but is not useful for aggressive poorly differentiated forms. Somatostatin (SRIF) analogs can be used as medical therapy, prolonging patient survival. However, the compounds employed so far did not display antiproliferative effects. Recently, a new stable SRIF analog, pasireotide (SOM230), which activates SSTR1, ...

Introduction: Bronchial Carcinoids are rare neoplasms originating from the diffuse neuroendrocrine system. Surgery is the only effective therapy but may not be feasible due to metastases. Available therapy may control symptoms but not tumor bulk. Everolimus has shown promising results, however patients may develop resistance. Previous studies demonstrated that Everolimus reduces viability of NCI-H720 (Atypical Carcinoid) but not of NCI-H727 cells (Typical Carcinoid). In order ...

Introduction: Thalassaemia syndromes are a group of inherited haemolytic disorders determining chronic anaemia, iron overload and organ damage (through the production of ROS), necessitating of iron chelation therapy. Nowadays, there is scant knowledge on hypercalciuria in thalassaemic Western patients. Therefore, aim of our study was evaluating the prevalence of hypercalciuria and identifying risk factors and clinical consequences associated with its development.<p class="...

Introduction: It is known that growth hormone (GH) may influence neoplastic development of endometrial epithelium. GH is produced by normal and neoplastic endometrial cells and elevated levels have been observed in endometrial epithelium of patients with endometriosis and endometrial adenocarcinoma (EA). Moreover, endometrium cancer is one of the most occurring tumors in acromegalic patients. Furthermore, autocrine GH increases the oncogenicity of EA cells and is considered fu...

Acromegaly results from excess growth hormone (GH) secretion, due to a pituitary adenoma. Surgery is the first option recommended for treatment of GH secreting pituitary adenomas; medical therapy, mostly represented by somatostatin analogues (SSA), is most often used if surgery is not successful. Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) physiologically reduces GH levels through an endocrine negative feedback loop. IGF-1 exerts its effects also through PI3K/Akt/mTO...