Endocrine Abstracts

Background: fragility fractures (FX) occur frequently after lung transplantation (TX), with a higher rate (15-20%) in the first two years, which decreases subsequently. Patients affected from cystic fibrosis (CF) seem to have a lower FX risk in the first two years after TX as compared with those affected with other lung diseases (nCF). The aim of our study is to evaluate and compare the long-term skeletal outcome in CF and nCF patients after TX.Methods: ...

Dopamine receptor type 2 (DRD2) agonists (DA) are the first-choice treatment for prolactin (PRL)-secreting pituitary tumors, but poorly effective in non-functioning (NF)-PitNETs. Along with G protein-dependent signaling, DRD2 also mediates non-canonical beta-arrestin-dependent pathways, where reduction of AKT phosphorylation plays a leading role for the antiproliferative effect of DRD2 in pituitary tumors. Through UNC9994 and MLS1547, a beta-arrestin 2-biased and a G protein-b...

Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs) are rare endocrine tumors with poor prognosis. They overexpress the insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), that drives a proliferative autocrine loop by binding to IGF1R and IR. The majority of studies focused on IGF1R as mediator of IGF2 biological effects, but recently a high expression of IR, in particular of the isoform A, was observed in most ACCs, suggesting a potential role of this receptor in modulating IGF2 effects in adrenocortical tumo...

Background and Aims: Graves’ disease (GD) and orbitopathy (GO) are characterised by the presence of pathological anti-thyrotropin receptor antibodies. In thyroid autoimmunity, especially GD and GO, a dysregulation of several T cell subpopulations has been proposed, especially T regulatory (Treg) and T helper 17 (Th17) cells, determining (auto)immunity inhibition and enhancement, respectively. T follicular cells (Tf) within germinal centres (GC: aggregates of lymphocytes w...

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 ...

Introduction: Endogenous hypercortisolism is associated with cardio-metabolic complications and promotes the deposition of lipids in different tissues, particularly in the liver. However, the prevalence of hepatic steatosis in patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) has been little investigated so far and only one previous study reported a prevalence of 20% using computed tomography. The aim of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and the organ-speci...

Background: Differential diagnosis of ACTH-dependent hypercortisolism is crucial to indicate a proper treatment and is based on CRH-, high-dose dexamethasone suppression-test (HDDST) and pituitary MRI. However, up to 50% of cases of Cushing’s disease (CD) present a negative MRI or a visible lesion < 6 mm. In these patients, guidelines suggest to perform bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS) in order to establish a correct diagnosis. Aim of this study was ...

Context: Available data on the natural history of pituitary incidentalomas (PI) are not strong enough to draw any evidence-based conclusion on timing and length of follow up of these masses, due to heterogeneity and low sample sizes.Objective: To describe the characteristics and the natural history of PI using data from a large cohort of patients investigated in two Italian Pituitary Centers.Patients and methods: Retrospective stud...

Dopamine receptor type 2 (DRD2) agonists (DAs) are the first-choice treatment for PRL-secreting pituitary tumors due to their efficacy in reducing tumor size and hormonal secretion. However, DAs are poorly effective in non-functioning pituitary tumors (NFPTs), despite most of them express DRD2. No correlation between DAs clinical responsiveness and DRD2 expression was found, suggesting post-receptor alterations underlying resistance. DRD2 signaling pathways that control cell p...

Objective: The identification of hyperandrogenism represents the cornerstone for the assessment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOs). However, its definition has always been troubling, mostly because of the poor accuracy shown by routine androgens assays. As suggested by literature, the application of more precise steroid measurement methods (such as liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, LC-MS/MS) could improve the diagnostic workup. The aim of our study is to evaluat...