Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: TSH-stimulated serum thyroglobulin (Tg) is used as a sensitive marker for the detection of early recurrence or residual disease following treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). However, stimulated Tg, using TSH or thyroid hormone withdrawal, is either costly or cumbersome for patients.Aim: To compare the performance of basal T4 suppressed, with stimulated Tg measurement, in the follow up of patients treated for DTC.</...

Acromegaly is a disorder characterized by overproduction of growth hormones (GH), which causes tissue growth in the body and comorbidities and symptoms. While prior studies examined comorbidities commonly associated with acromegaly, few have long follow-up periods necessary to characterize the long-term comorbidity profile of patients with acromegaly. There is limited literature on real-world treatment patterns of patients with acromegaly. This study describes the long-term pr...

Acromegaly is a rare disorder characterized by the overproduction of growth hormone (GH) and elevated insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF1). While some studies have investigated the potential associations between biochemical control (i.e., normalization of IGF-1 and/or GH) and comorbidities/symptoms, few studies have long-term follow-up. This study assessed the association between biochemical control and selected comorbidities/symptoms in patients with acromegaly using real worl...

Long-term biochemical control (i.e., normalization of growth hormone [GH] and insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF1]) is the goal of treatment of acromegaly. Few studies have characterized the sustainability of GH/IGF1 levels in acromegaly patients. This study aimed to identify long-term time trends of GH, IGF1 levels, and biochemical control in patients with acromegaly using longitudinal real world data. Medical records of adult patients with a confirmed acromegaly diagnosis, &#...

Introduction: Adrenal tumors present with clinical features and signs unique to their specific hormonal hypersecretion. Among adrenal tumors, oncocytic pheochromocytomas are exceedingly rare tumours. We report an unusual clinical presentation of an adrenal cortical tumor with histologic features of an oncocytic pheochromocytoma.Case Report: We present a case of a 64-year-old man with moderate hypertension, type 2 diabetes and an incidental adrenal mass o...

Pituitary adenomas and phaeochromocytoma/paragangliomas (PHAEO/PGL) can very rarely occur in the same patient or in the same family. Together, they are not known to be part of any classical endocrine neoplasia syndromes. In some caes the pathogenetic mechanism may be secondary to a PHAEO secreting GHRH leading to somatotroph hyperplasia and clinical acromegaly. However, we suggest several other mechanisms which could lead to the development of pituitary and PHAEO/PGL together:...

Background: A founder mutated AIP allele, R304* was previously identified in several Irish familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) pedigrees from a small region within Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland, but the allele’s general population impact remains unknown.Aims: To estimate R304* prevalence in the general population and pituitary adenoma (PA) patients and to calculate the allele’s time to most recent common ancestor (tMRCA).<p c...

Highly regulated pulsatile secretion of the GnRH is essential for reproduction. GnRH pulses act via 7TM receptors to control synthesis and secretion of FSH and LH. GnRH receptors activate a signal-transduction network that includes two parallel pathways mediated by ERK and nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT). ERK and NFAT in concert with other effectors mediate transcriptional regulation of FSHβ and LHβ genes following stimulation by pulsatil...

Background: The A1 allele of the DRD2/ANKK1 Taq1A polymorphism (rs1800497) is associated with reduced striatal D2 receptor binding (Thompson et al., 1997; Pohjalainen et al.,1998). Associations between Taq1A polymorphism DRD2/ANKK1 gene and reward sensitivity including compulsive overeating were reported (Propper et al., 2008; Davis et al., 2008). To study the association of DRD2/ANKK1 Taq1A polymorphism (rs1800497) with obesity we started g...

Bert W O’MalleyBert W O’Malley, MD is the Tom Thompson Distinguished Service Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine. A native of Pittsburgh, he has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1959) and an MD from their School of Medicine (1963). He completed his residency at Duke University and spent four years at the National Institute of Health followed by four years serving as the Luscious B...