Endocrine Abstracts

A 45-year-old lady presented with a 12-month history of blurred vision. Visual assessment revealed a bitemporal hemianopia and CT scan demonstrated a large pituitary tumour with lateral and suprasellar extension. A GTT showed her growth hormone was raised basally at 7.5 milliunits per litre and incompletely suppressed to 5.7 milliunits per litre confirming acromegaly. Transsphenoidal hypophysectomy was performed. Histology confirmed a somatoptroph adenoma. Post operatively she...

A 34-year-old woman, presented to her General Practitioner with hot flushes. Investigations showed her to have a normal LH, FSH, free T4 and TSH. Her prolactin was elevated at 1110 milliunits per litre (NR <350 ). She had a normal menarche age 14 and had regular 28 day menstrual cycles. Before the onset of the hot flushes she had started to take agnus castus, a herbal remedy said to help symptoms of premenstrual tension.Whilst she continued to take ...

The Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) gene is located on chromosome 11q13 and patients with mutations develop parathyroid, pancreatic and pituitary tumours. MEN1 mutations also cause familial isolated primary hyperparathyroidism (FIHP) and the same MEN1 mutations, in different families, can cause either FIHP or MEN1. This emphasises the importance of genetic background in altering the expression of a mutation, and suggests the presence of genetic ...

A 67 yr old lady was admitted with left ventricular failure, angina, and atrial fibrillation. She was hypokalaemic (2.5mmol/l). There was a 3 year history of hypertension and a new diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. There was a recent history of weight gain, muscle weakness, bruising and facial puffiness. On examination she appeared cushingoid. A 24 hour urine for free cortisol was 1438nmol\/24h (normal<350). A basal 0800h serum cortisol was 1061nmol/l. After low dose dexameth...

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is characterized by the combined occurrence of parathyroid, pancreatic islet and anterior pituitary tumours. Over 95% of MEN1 patients will have developed a manifestation of MEN1 by the age of forty years, and in >85% of patients, parathyroid tumours are the first to occur. In a previously reported Men1 knockout mouse model, parathyroid tumours occurred in less than 50% of Men1 heterozygous (Men1+/−...

Pituitary tumours occur in more than 40% of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) patients, and these are more aggressive and difficult to treat than those in non-MEN1 patients. Assessments of in vivo proliferation rates will be of importance in evaluating emerging treatments. We have used the uptake of the DNA nucleotide precursor, 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU), to assess proliferation rates of pituitary tumours in our Men1 knockout mouse model, which devel...

Objective: To investigate a family with the unusual combination of Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (MEN1) and the McCune-Albright syndrome for mutations of the MEN1 and GNAS1 genes. MEN1 is an autosomal dominant disorder characterised by parathyroid, pancreatic and pituitary tumours whereas the McCune-Albright syndrome is a sporadic disorder characterised by polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, skin pigmentation and hyperfunctioning endocrine tumours.<p class="abstext...

Introduction:Steroid hormones exert numerous effects through their action on genomic receptors but little is known about the rapid effects mediated via membrane-bound proteins. Analyses in several vertebrate species indicate that three groups (alpha or A, beta or B, and gamma) of membrane progestin receptors (mPR) exist and have distinct tissue distributions.Objective:The aims of this study were to establish ...

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy type 1 (APS1) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by hypoparathyroidism, adrenocortical failure, and mucocutaneous candidiasis. The gene causing APS1 is the autoimmune regulator (AIRE-1) gene, which maps to 21q22.3 and consists of 14 exons. The AIRE-1 protein, comprising of 545 amino acids, contains two PHD zinc-finger motifs, a proline rich region and four LXXLL motifs, consistent with its role as a transcription factor. Over 25 diff...

Objective: to investigate whether periconceptual undernutrition in sheep alters the timing and activation of the fetal HPA axis and thus pregnancy duration. Preterm birth is a major health problem, but its causes are poorly understood.Methods: Twentyeight nulliparous ewes were randomly assigned to an ad libitum (N, n=8) or restricted diet (maternal body weight reduced by 15-20%; UN, N=10) from 61 d before to 30 d after mating. Therea...