Endocrine Abstracts

Adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (FABP4) is emerging as a novel risk marker for metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis. In this context we recently showed that FABP4 released by human adipocytes suppresses cardiomyocyte contraction, thus suggesting a pathogenic role for FABP4 in the cardiac dysfunction in obesity. Since a new FABP4 inhibitor which competitively inhibits the binding of endogenous fatty acids to FABP4 was effective in the treatment of atherosclerosis and dia...

Introduction: Central hypothyroidism (CeH) is diagnosed when low thyrotropin (TSH) is associated with a free thyroxine (fT4) below the normal range. Jostel proposed a ’fT4-adjusted TSH’ (TSH index: TSHI = log TSH +0.1345 · fT4.), to estimate the degree of pituitary dysfunction (Jostel et al. Clin End 2009).Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients investigated for pituitary hormone deficiencies (n=276; M:F 166:...

Background: Pituitary adenomas (PAs)/Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors (PitNETs) are a complex and heterogeneous group of lesions. Genetic and epigenetic studies have been performed to identify predictors of treatment outcome.Study aim: To profile clinically non-aggressive (NA) and aggressive (A) PAs/PitNETs, and carcinomas for somatic mutations and epigenetic alterations of genes involved in cell proliferation/differentiation, miRNA/lncRNA-post-transcript...

Background: DNA methylation has been recognized as a putative regulatory mechanism for CYP11B2 in primary hyperaldosteronism. We aimed to investigate the DNA methylation and the expression of a panel of genes encoding several enzymes involved in steroidogenesis in adrenocortical benign tumors.Methods: We collected a total of 60 adrenocortical tissues, including 9 non-functioning adrenal adenomas, 9 adenomas associated with autonomous cortisol se...

Introduction: The possible change in the pattern of hormonal secretion by pituitary tumours is a very intriguing issue indeed, notably in the case of corticotroph-cell adenomas.Methods/design: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 1259 consecutive endoscopic endonasal surgical procedures for pituitary adenomas from 1998 to 2013. Of these, 132 were ACTH-secreting adenomas associated with Cushing’s disease (CD) and 44 were silent corticotroph-cel...

Obesity has long been recognized as an independent risk factor in heart failure. The mechanisms proposed to explain this correlation include hemodynamic changes secondary to obesity, leading to left ventricular remodeling and systolic dysfunction, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by increased lipid accumulation into cardiomyocytes. Adipose tissue is an endocrine organ that secretes a wide variety of bioactive factors, which seem to mediate communication between adipose tiss...

The causal relationship between obesity and heart failure is broadly acknowledged; however, the pathophysiological mechanisms involved remain unclear. Besides hemodynamic changes, an alternative mechanism of cardiomyocytes apoptosis secondary to intracellular lipid accumulation has been proposed. However, this seems to be valid only for severe obesity but may not explain the increase in heart failure risk with mild-to-moderate overweight. Since adipocytes secrete a wide variet...

Rationale and aim: A recent pangenomic study documented a subset of somatotroph mostly GNAS-wildtype PitNET/adenomas co-express steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1). Aim of our study was to investigate clinical and molecular features of a cohort of these tumour subtype. Study sample: We identified 20 cases of SF1-expressing somatotropinomas out of 173 (11.6%) operated via transsphenoidal endoscopic approach in 3 referral Pituitary Centers patients. Pre- and post...

Background: Previous studies have shown an association between low CYP11B2 DNA methylation levels and high CYP11B2 mRNA levels in aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), suggesting that epigenetic mechanisms play a pivotal role for regulating CYP11B2 function in primary aldosteronism. It has been proposed that aldosterone-producing cell clusters (APCCs) may become a source of autonomous aldosterone production when evolving into APA.Aim: Our aim was to deter...