Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In acromegaly, few in vivo data exist on changes of the brain parenchyma as a pathology caused by systemically elevated levels of GH and IGF-1. This is in contrast to neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, cognitive impairment, personality changes and pain syndromes that accompany the condition. We aimed at measuring brain tissue volumes and white matter pathology in acromegaly.Methods: Forty-three patients (age 54±14 years...

Introduction: Bilateral adrenalectomy (BADx) is a treatment option in ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome refractory to other therapeutic modalities or can be an emergency measure in cases with severe manifestations of hypercortisolaemia.Aim: To review the outcomes of our patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s offered BADx.Methods: Records of patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s managed by BADx and seen in our Depart...

In its early stages, malignant melanoma can be cured by surgical resection, but once it has progressed to the metastatic stage it does not respond to current therapies. Therefore, the development of novel treatment strategies, such as gene therapy, is urgently needed. To investigate an alternative approach, we examined the feasibility of NIS-mediated radionuclide therapy (131I, 188Re) of malignant melanoma following human sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gen...

The locus comprising the genes that catalyse the final steps of cortisol and aldosterone synthesis (CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 respectively) is a plausible candidate risk region for hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, there remains uncertainty as to the strength of the relationship between polymorphisms at this locus and increased blood pressure. In this study, association with hypertension at the CYP11B1/CYP11B2 locus in a Caucasian cas...

Background: Glucorticoids can affect blood pressure in humans, as demonstrated most strikingly in Cushing’s syndrome. We have previously reported that total cortisol metabolite excretion is raised in obese subjects, while other investigations have identified genetically determined changes in glucocorticoid receptor function as contributors to hypertension. Furthermore, in essential hypertension, vasoconstrictor sensitivity to glucocorticoids is increased. Such raised sens...