Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: GHR in adults with GHD favourably effects body composition (reduces fat and increases lean body mass) although body weight usually remains unchanged. However the effect of GHR on ingestive behaviour and voluntary physical activity in adults has not been studied.Methods: We studied 10 hypopituitary adults (8 males, 2 females, mean age 49.7 years) with severe GHD (mean peak GH response to glucagon 3.26 mU/l, baseline IGF-1 level 14.5 nmol/L) be...

Transdifferentiation of non-endocrine pancreatic cells towards a beta-cell phenotype may enable insulin independence in many individuals from a single donor. This will be dependent on near-physiological proinsulin biosynthesis, processing, storage and secretion. The aim of this study was to fully characterise endocrine potential of pancreatic acinar cells before and after transdifferentiation.Expression of exocrine/endocrine markers in the AR42J rat acin...

Transdifferentiation of non-endocrine pancreatic cells towards a beta-cell phenotype may enable insulin independence in many individuals from a single donor. This will be dependent on near-physiological proinsulin biosynthesis, processing, storage and secretion. The aim of this study was to fully characterise endocrine potential of pancreatic acinar cells before and after transdifferentiation.Expression of exocrine/endocrine markers in the AR42J rat acin...

Background: The availability of genetic testing has major implications for family management in MEN syndromes. In order to offer systematic genetic and endocrine screening for type 1 and type 2 MEN we invited patients with possible MEN syndromes to a dedicated clinic.Outcomes: In the first year 16 subjects (from 12 families) were seen, with a total of 28 previous or current tumours (12 hyperparathyroidism, 10 pituitary and 6 foregut tumours). Eight subje...

Background: numerous studies using a variety of quality of life (QOL) measures have shown multiple impairments in adults with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) compared to control subjects. There have been few studies however of QOL in a treated GHD population compared with healthy controls.Method: 120 adults with treated GHD ( >1 year) were given the following QOL questionnaires at annual review: SF36, Nottingham Health Profile, Disease Impact, Life F...

Background: We previously demonstrated that elderly patients with GHD have increased and young GHD patients have reduced cardiac sympathovagal balance. Therefore we decided to investigate whether the relationship between age and cardiac sympathovagal balance is altered in GHD compared to healthy controls.Method: HRV, which indirectly measures cardiac sympathovagal balance, was measured in 22 untreated GHD patients (13 F; mean age 47.4 yrs; range 19-73 y...

Background: Existing biomarkers have limited ability to discriminate indolent non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) from those with a propensity to recur following primary surgery. Radiomics, the extraction of quantitative data from medical imaging, is increasingly recognised as a tool to augment clinical decision making.Methods: 39 patients who underwent primary trans-sphenoidal surgery for an NFPA between January 2007 and April 2017, were enrolled...

Background: Sporadic non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) are described as having quiet mutational landscapes. Genes with recurrent somatic alterations have not been identified by previous studies examining heterogeneous pituitary tumour populations. Existing biomarkers have limited ability to discriminate NFPAs with a predisposition for regrowth from those that will follow a more indolent course after primary surgery. We undertook somatic sequencing, in an enriched coho...

Background: Clinically relevant pituitary adenomas (Pit PA) affect approximately 1:1200 of the general population, and may manifest with hormone hypersecretion, hypopituitarism and compression of the visual pathways. Primary aldosteronism (Adr PA) is now recognised to account for 5–14% of all cases of hypertension and is associated with excess morbidity when compared with primary hypertension. Here, we report a patient who was noted to have a history suggestive of Adr PA ...

Section 1&2: Case history and investigations: We report the case of a 52-year-old man with recurrent immunodeficiency-related Burkitt’s lymphoma. 11 years following remission of his disease he presented with a firm lump in the parotid region. A biopsy showed histopathological evidence of a relapse. An 18F FDG PET was undertaken to determine the extent of the disease and response to R-DHAX chemotherapy. Areas of high uptake were identified in both sides of t...