Endocrine Abstracts

Background/aims: Prostatic specific antigen (PSA) is the best prostatic tumor marker in man; Recently PSA has been detected in a variety of tissues and fluids in women and is considered a marker of hyperandrogenism. However no precise information are avaible about the physiology of PSA in females. The goal of this study was to assess serum concentrations of PSA in healthy pre-menopausal women (healthy pre-menopausal group) and menopausal women (menopause group) and compare the...

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is currently believed a common endocrine-plurimetabolic disorder often associated to insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperandrogenism, dyslipidemia and obesity, pathological conditions predisposing to high cardiovascular risk. Oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction could represent early mechanisms of the cardiovascular risk in patients with PCOS. In order to confirm this hypothesis, 25 young (23.8±1.3 yr), over-w...

Recently, we have reported a few cases of acute liver damage in patients with Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO), during or following high dose intravenous (iv) glucocorticoid (GC) pulse therapy. In the present study we analyzed retrospectively liver enzymes (LE) in 294 consecutive patients with GO who underwent ivGC. LE were measured before or during ivGC, and in 91 patients also within 6 months after ivGC. An asymptomatic increase in LE (AST peak: 67–88 U/L, ALT peak: 75&...

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) with a normal located thyroid gland may be transient or permanent and environmental, iatrogenic, immunologic or genetic factors can be involved. PAX-8, TSH receptor and THOX2 gene mutations have been identified in cases of CH with a gland of normal size.In this study we performed genetic analysis of PAX8, TSH receptor and THOX2 genes in 14 children with CH and a normal sized eutopic gland. Genomic DNA was extracted from lym...

Aim of the study was to evaluate whether clinical parameters and echographic patterns may be predictive of malignancy in thyroid nodules with a cytological diagnosis of follicular (FOL) and H?rthle cell (HC) neoplasia. The study included 495 patients (388 F: mean age 45±14 yr; 107 M: mean age 46±14 yr) with FOL (n=418) and CH (n=77) nodules, ‘cold’ at scintiscan and undergone to thyroidectomy. Clinical parameters considered were: sex, age, goi...

Aim of the study was to establish the diagnostic value of nuclear atypia thyroid nodules with cytological diagnosis of follicular (FOL) and Hv¨rthle cell (HC) neoplasia. 1039/23.313 fine needle aspiration (FNA) performed in January 2002 June 2005 in the Department of Endocrinology, University of Pisa had cytological diagnosis of FOL e CH. FNA was performed under echo guidance, using 23 gauge needle attached to 10 mL syringe. The material was air-dryed and stained with Pap...

Mutations in the RET proto-oncogene are responsible for multiple endocrine neoplasia type II. Somatic RET mutations were described in 50% of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). We describe here a novel germline mutation of the RET gene detected in an apparentely sporadic MTC.The index case was a 67 years old patient who arrived at our observation for a bilateral laterocervical linfoadenopathy. The patient was clinically evaluated for thyroid function and ...

About 10–15% of FNA cytologies are nondiagnostic, because of inadequate material or indeterminate (i.e. follicular neoplasms). Aim of this study was to analyse the practical usefulness of the analysis of BRAF mutations and RET/PTC rearrangements, known to be associated to papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), in FNA-material.We analysed 100 thyroid nodules with a nondiagnostic cytology: 75 follicular nodules and 25 cases with inadequate material. Fifte...

Toxic multinodular goiter is a heterogeneous disease producing hyperthyroidism frequently found in iodine-deficient areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the gene expression profile of functioning and non-functioning thyroid nodules present in the same thyroid gland from two patients affected by autonomous multinodular goiter by using the Affymetrix technology.Total RNA was extracted from nodular and non nodular tissues, retrotranscribed, and the ...

Objective: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous non-coding RNAs that pair with target messengers regulating gene expression. They are involved in biological processes including development, organogenesis, tissue differentiation, cell cycle and metabolism. Changes in miRNA levels occur in human cancers, including thyroid cancer. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) with cytologic evaluation is the most reliable tool for malignancy prediction in thyroid nodules, but cytologic diagnos...