Endocrine Abstracts

The A-ZIP/F-1 transgenic mouse is a model of lipoatrophic diabetes with severe insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia. Recently, a regulatory role of adipose tissue on adrenal gland function and blood pressure has been suggested. To further explore the importance of adipose tissue in the regulation of adrenal function and blood pressure, we studied this mouse model of lipodystrophy. A-ZIP/F-1 mice exhibit significantly elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressu...

Background: Expression of somatostatin receptor (SST) and therapy with somatostatin analogues have been scarcely investigated in parathyroid tumors.Objective: To evaluate the effects of depot long acting octreotide (OCT-LAR) on primary hyperparathyroidism in patients affected with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1).Subjects and methods: Eight patients with a genetically confirmed MEN-1 were enrolled. All patients presented...

Although 20% of follicular neoplasms are papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), their cytological diagnosis is not diagnostic. A different profile of gene expression between malignant and benign thyroid tumors has been reported. Aim of this study was to identify a gene expression profile to be used in distinguishing malignant from benign thyroid neoplasms. By real-time RT-PCR we analyzed mRNA expression of 6 thyroid differentiation genes (TTF-1, PAX8, TPO, TSHr, NIS and Tg) and 5 ...

Introduction: Glucose metabolism impairment is a common complication of acromegaly. Pegvisomant (PEG) is used as second-line medical treatment in acromegaly. Data from literature suggest a positive effect of PEG on glucose metabolism but a meta-analysis has never been performed.Aim: To address the following questions: i) does PEG affect glucose metabolism? ii) does the effect correlate with disease control?Methods: We performed a m...

Radioiodide 131I (RAI) is the therapy of choice for radioiodine-avid differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). However, 5–15% of DTC patients become RAI refractory (RAIR), and the 10-year survival rate for metastatic disease decreases to 10%. The failure of RAI response is mainly due to the loss of thyroid differentiation, that leads to the loss of expression/function of components of iodide metabolism, first of all the Na/I symporter (NIS). The finding that the MAPK pathway i...

Background:Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the leading causes of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), therefore it is essential to give preference to a glucose-lowering drug having most prominent cardioprotective properties. Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) have demonstrated an ability to decrease heart failure manifestations, cardiovascular death frequency not having a certain influence on MI occurrence. On ...

BackgroundSerum B cell stimulating factor (BAFF) has been shown to be elevated in Graves’ disease (Vannucchi 2012). In addition, BAFF and its receptor have been shown to be expressed on lymphocytes infiltrating the thyroid in Graves’ disease and also on thyrocytes (Campi 2015).AimsWe tested in a single-blind randomized controlled trial (EudraCT 2015–002127–26) whether the administration ...

IntroductionAIP is a predisposing gene for GH/PRL-secreting PitNETs. Clinically non-functioning PitNETs (NFPT) occasionally occur in the setting of AIP germline mutations, sometimes arising from Pit-1 lineages. However, AIP overexpression has been observed in unselected NFPT and associations with the gonadotroph phenotype and/or tumour aggressiveness were suggested. We wished to evaluate the significance of AIP expression in gonadotroph tumours defined b...

Many patients affected by SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID) have associated comorbidities (arterial hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, thrombophilia) that are also tied to autonomous cortisol secretion. However, the prevalence of diseases of the adrenal glands in COVID patients is presently unknown. Since the visualization of the adrenal glands is almost always available in chest CT performed in patients with suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, the evaluation of adren...

Background: Little is known about possible predictors for hormonal function following pituitary surgery. Tumor consistency has recently emerged as a key factor in surgical planning for pituitary adenomas, influencing both the surgical outcome and the onset of postoperative complications. However, its impact on postoperative endocrine function has yet to be explored.Objectives: To evaluate the impact of tumor consistency on the development of postoperativ...