Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hypoparathyroidism (HypoPT) is a rare endocrine disease which is characterized by hypocalcaemia and undetectable or inappropriately low serum parathyroid hormone (PTH). Post-surgical HypoPT (PS-HypoPT) is the most common cause, caused by accidental parathyroid removal/injury during neck surgery. Conventional therapy with calcium and vitamin D analogues does not restore calcium homeostasis and patients with chronic PS-HypoPT complain with several complications. Fr...

Parathyroid carcinomas (PCas) are rare endocrine malignant neoplasia characterized by an abnormal PTH secretion and, consequently, severe and uncontrolled hypercalcemia. Clinically, the preoperative diagnosis can be misleading, because PCas share some molecular and clinical similarities with benign lesions and are often indolent. The histological diagnosis of carcinoma is achieved based on the presence of mitotic nuclear figures, capsular invasion, parenchyma infiltration, vas...

Current clinical presentation of PHPT is mild disease with an increased risk of fragility fractures. PHPT predominantly occurs in postmenopausal women, who have an increased risk of osteoporosis and fractures due to ageing and loss of estrogen.Aims: To explore skeletal phenotypes in postmenopausal women affected by PHPT with a wide clinical and biochemical spectrum of disease.Patients: Postmenopausal (at least 5 years from last men...

The 4th International Workshop for the management of asymptomatic PHPT included the presence of hypercalciuria (dUCa> 400 mg/day) and increased stone risk by biochemical stone risk profile as criteria for surgery. Our aim was to evaluate the complete stone risk profile in 176 consecutive patients with asymptomatic PHPT. We recorded clinical and biochemical data, including 24 hours urinary measurements of the following parameters: volume and pH, creatinine, calcium, magnesi...

Familial Isolated Hyperparathyroidism (FIHP) is a hereditary disorder characterized by primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) with no evidence of other endocrine disorders. Germline MEN1, CDC73 and CASR mutations have been identified, but the majority of FIHP has still unrecognized causes. The aim of this study was to identify, by whole-exome sequencing, novel gene alterations in a large FIHP kindred. The family’s proband, her sister, brother and ni...

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...

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is usually a sporadic disorder, but in <10% of cases occurs as part of hereditary syndromes, including multiple endocrine neoplasia types 1 and 2A (MEN1 and MEN2A), hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome (HPT-JT) and familial isolated hyperparathyroidism (FIHP).MEN 1 is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by tumours in multiple endocrine glands, most commonly parathyroid, enteropancreatic and anterior pitui...

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is usually a sporadic disorder, but in <10% of cases occurs as part of hereditary syndromes, including multiple endocrine neoplasia types 1 and 2A (MEN1 and MEN2A), hyperparathyroidism–jaw tumor syndrome (HPT–JT) and familial isolated hyperparathyroidism (FIHP).MEN1 is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by tumours in multiple endocrine glands, most commonly parathyroid, enteropancreatic and anter...

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...