Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Many testosterone (T) formulations are now available for treating male hypogonadism. Intramuscular injectable T esters and transdermal T gel are the most commonly used in clinical practice. Transdermal T gel is often preferred by patients due to ease of use and reduced fluctuations in serum T compared to injectable esters. A daily dosage of 20 mg – 80 mg mimicking circadian profile is recommended to adequately treat hypogonadal men.Aim: ...

Background: CCH and serum hypercalcitoninemia (iperCT) can be found in benign thyroid diseases such as thyroiditis and in some cases of papillary (PTC) or follicular (FTC) thyroid microcarcinomas. The question of whether the association with these latter is related to the malignancy of the nodule is still unclear.Aim of the study: To evaluate the difference in the CCH prevalence, at histology, in a series of benign (BTN) and malignant (PTC/FTC) thyroid n...

Somatostatin receptor type 2 (SST2) is the main pharmacological target of long-acting somatostatin analogues (SSA) widely used in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (P-NETs). A subset of patients is resistant to SSA, although the molecular mechanisms responsible for resistance are poorly understood. Several studies identified cytoskeleton protein interactions as determinant in receptor anchoring, expression and signalling. Since SST2 was recently demonstrated to a...

cAMP is an ubiquitous second messenger that is implicated in the regulation of a wide variety of cell functions, including cell proliferation that is differently affected depending on the cell type. Although the effects exerted by cAMP were initially attributed to PKA activation, two exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP (Epac1/2) have been identified as cAMP targets able to mediate several cAMP effects. Aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cAMP on neuroen...

Treatment options for neuroendocrine tumors (NET), including everolimus, are rarely curative, as NETs frequently show resistance to medical therapy. In fact, the use of everolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, is limited by the development of resistance, probably due to the activation of Akt signalling. Metformin seems to have anticancer effects in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). A recent retrospective study found longer progression-free-survival in diabetic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumo...

Introduction: Non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NCCAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency is one of the most frequent autosomal recessive diseases. Genetic analysis performed for genetic counselling revealed a miscorrelation with the clinical diagnosis in several patients at our centre.Aim: Confirm the genetic diagnosis of NCCAH in women attended for this condition.Materials and methods: Consecutive patients attended at o...

Somatostatin (SS) binds to different SS receptors (SSTR1–5) and SS analogues are the first choice medical treatment of GH-secreting pituitary adenomas (GH-omas). A subset of patients is resistant to SS, although the mechanisms involved in SS resistance are not fully understood. Recent studies identified specific protein–protein interactions as determinant in the regulation of receptor anchoring and signalling. Filamin A (FLNA) is a widely expressed cytoskeleton prote...

Context: Until now the role of medical therapy in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP) was mainly based on the use of bisphosphonates. Recently, cinacalcet hydrochloride was reported to be effective in control hypercalcemia in PHP. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of cinacalcet in PHP patients who were not effectively controlled with alendronate.Patients and methods: Fourteen PHP patients (mean age 64.1±2.6) were include...

GH deficiency (GHD) negatively influences cardiovascular function directly by impairing cardiac filling, performance, and contractility and indirectly by inducing atherosclerotic changes, hypercoagulability, abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, dislipidemia, endothelial dysfunction, etc. This accounts for the reduced life expectancy and increased risk of death for vascular disease in these patients.CFR represents the capacity of the coronary circulatio...

Objective: The metabolic syndrome (MS) is characterized by a marked sympathetic activation. Whether this adrenergic overdrive is mainly dependent on the obese state or it can be detected also in absence of obesity is unknown, however.Design and Methods: In 25 male patients (age 41.4±yrs., mean±S.E.M.) with MS (ATP III criteria) and in 12 age-matched healthy male controls, we measured body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC...