Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Recent data suggest that metformin has antineoplastic properties in different type of cancer. Effects of metformin have never been investigated in neuroendocrine tumors (NET).We aim to determine the role of metformine on recurrence-free survival (RFS) in NET patients.Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted comparing NET patients with recent diagnosis (<3 year) of diabetes mellitus (with HbA1c...

Introduction: FSH acts on its receptor (FSHR) resulting in signal transduction activation, gene expression and steroidogenesis. The FSHR common SNP p.N680S is a marker of gonadal response in vivo. However, in vitro dose–response experiments failed to demonstrate the molecular basis thereof so far. In this study, we systematically investigated whether p.N680S mediates different kinetics of FSH response in vitro.Des...

Background: Previous studies have shown an association between low CYP11B2 DNA methylation levels and high CYP11B2 mRNA levels in aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), suggesting that epigenetic mechanisms play a pivotal role for regulating CYP11B2 function in primary aldosteronism. It has been proposed that aldosterone-producing cell clusters (APCCs) may become a source of autonomous aldosterone production when evolving into APA.Aim: Our aim was to deter...

Background and Aim: The incidental detection of asymptomatic thyroid nodules (TNs) has increased over time. Over 90% of newly diagnosed TNs are either cytologically or sonographically benign. This study aimed to determine the frequency and magnitude of changes in TNs size over time.Methods: We performed a prospective, multicenter, observational study involving consecutive euthyroid patients with 1–4 asymptomatic, sonographically or cytological...

Introduction: PHPT is a common endocrine disease characterized by hypercalcemia and different degree of osteoporosis and nephrolithiasis. PHPT arises in the context of an inherited disease in 5% of cases. Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is the commonest cause of inherited PHPT. The main therapeutic approach for PHPT is surgery, however many patients refuse or have contraindications for surgery while others, in particular those with MEN1 PHPT, have persistent/relapsi...

Introduction: Targeted therapy with the multi-kinase inhibitor sorafenib is effective for treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) unresponsive to RAI. Although kinase-inhibitors (KIs) are usually well tolerated, severe and even fatal adverse events are reported. Aim of the study was to assess incidence and characteristics of fatal events in patients with RAI-refractory DTC responsive to treatment with sorafenib.Design: A retrospective analysis o...

Introduction: Paragangliomas are neuroectodermal tumors that arise from adrenal medulla or extra-adrenal ganglia and are characterized by high vascularisation. A high rate of these tumours is genetically inherited. For malignant paragangliomas, chemo- and radio-therapy are potentially effective, but tumor response is of short duration and patient prognosis is quite poor. Sunitinib is a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor, targeting VEGFR1, -2, PDGFRα, -β, RET and c-Kit. Recent...

Introduction: Kinase-inhibitors (KIs) are effective for treatment of most aggressive endocrine cancers. The crucial point about treatment with KIs is that these agents are not curative and their effects are at best transitory and are always followed by a restoration of tumour growth and progression. Several retrospective and phase II studies demonstrated efficacy of both sorafenib and sunitib for treatment of iodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer although results fro...

Introduction: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor in which somatostatin receptor (sst) expression is higher for sst1 and sst5 than for sst2. This may explain why the available sst2–selective analogues do not work in these patients and why pasireotide (SOM230), a novel, multi-receptor targeted somatostatin analogue with high-binding affinity for sst1,2,3 and sst5 coul...

Introduction: Several clinical and molecular markers can be used to establish risk at the time of diagnosis in DTC. Thyroglobulin (Tg), which is essential in follow up, could be an early marker to identify risk patients. Around 25% of patients require 18 months or longer to have indetectable Tg. The presence of Tg antibodies (TgAb) invalidate the follow up of DTC via Tg and this is usually associated with a poor prognosis.Aim: To evaluate the role of Tg ...