Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Management of PHPT includes successful localization of parathyroid adenoma(s) by nuclear imaging and ultrasound scans allowing focused or minimally invasive surgery. Our aim was to assess the accuracy of parathyroid imaging in surgically-treated patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) by correlating the imaging findings with surgical findings and cure of hyperparathyroidism. We also compared the surgical outcomes in patients with con...

Choriogonadotrophin-alpha (Cga) is one of the first molecular markers for the developing pituitary gland previously known as ‘alpha-subunit’, common to thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Mice lacking Cga are hypogonadal and exhibit profound hypothyroidism and dwarfism. Light microscopy of Cga null mice has shown that pituitary thyrotrophs...

One of the major risk factors for type 2 diabetes is Obesity (accounts for 80-85% of overall risk of developing type 2 diabetes). The UK is currently amid an obesity epidemic and it is recommended that the UK population reduce their daily calorie intake. As people are surrounded by food, it was acknowledged that this can be challenging to achieve on a long-term basis. This pilot study aimed to identify common social cues that encourage people to in...

Background: Excess adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH), most often from a pituitary tumour, results in the overproduction of cortisol and the condition, Cushing’s syndrome. Plasma ACTH measurements are used in the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome but due to the presence of multiple dibasic cleavage sites within its sequence, ACTH is extremely labile and far from an ideal analyte. Processing of ACTH by some ectopic tumours releases high levels of smaller-ACTH like fragments, &...

Objectives: We present findings from the UK arm of the THESIS collaboration, a pan-European survey of endocrinologists’ opinions and current practice in the management of hypothyroid and euthyroid disorders.Methods: UK clinical members of the Society of Endocrinology and the British Thyroid Association were invited to participate in an online survey.Results: 272 of 1295 (21%) eligible members completed the survey. More than 50...

In thyroid surgery recently is a very important issue to maintain good cosmesis of the scar which can always be visible. Even smaller incisions have been utilized in order to improve satisfaction of the patient. In the last decades new endoscopic techniques have been applied using breast or axillary approach with unfavourable cosmetic outcome In the last couple of years there has been a development of a new endocopic technique known as transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestib...

University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) has over 1,000 thyroid patient contacts annually. These are primarily patients with autoimmune hyperthyroidism and are treated by titration of Carbimazole. Dose adjustments are made by a healthcare professional (HCP) based on the results of thyroid function tests. Once the test results are available, the HCP decides on a prescription dose and communicates this to the patient, which is time-consuming and introduces delays. This project aims to ...

The proto-oncogene pituitary tumor-transforming gene-binding factor (PBF) is upregulated in multiple tumours including thyroid cancer. PBF overexpression mediates tumorigenic processes such as cell motility and accelerates thyroid cancer cell invasion. We have recently shown that both PBF phosphorylation at tyrosine 174 (Y174) and PBF endocytosis are required for PBF-stimulated thyroid and breast cancer cell migration and invasion. This prompted further investigation into a ph...

Background: Numerous studies have reported the role of the N-terminal of pro-opiomelanocortin (N-POMC1-76) and its smaller fragments; 1-28 and 1-49, in adrenal steroidogenesis and mitogenesis. A full understanding of this area will help to understand the pathophysiology of certain adrenal tumours but exactly how these peptides elicit this effect is unclear. We have recently identified an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) as a possible N-POMC receptor. Preliminary data s...

Plasma adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) is extremely labile and far from an ideal analyte for use in the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome. Processing of ACTH by some ectopic tumours releases high levels of smaller ACTH-like fragments, α-MSH and CLIP, which can interfere with individual antibodies in current diagnostic immunoassays. Furthermore, cross-reactivity with the precursor of ACTH, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), increases the likelihood of erroneous interpretations an...