Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Thyroid hormone plays a key role in bone mineral homeostasis and significant alterations in its circulating levels has been associated with impairment in skeletal growth during childhood. To date, bone effects of subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) has not been demonstrated yet, therefore the management of this condition is still debated.Aim: To evaluate bone mineral density (BMD) in children with mild, persistent SH and the effects of two-years ...

Background: Endothelial dysfunction is considered an early step in the development of atherosclerosis, while an increased intima-media thickness (IMT) represents one of the earliest morphological changes in the arterial wall in the process of atherogenesis. Only a few studies have investigated endothelial dysfunction and IMT in GHD children and results are still inconsistent.Objective: Aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of GHD and GH treatment ...

Studies conducted using knockout mouse model revealed that defects of PROKR2 affect the correct ontogeny of GnRH neurons and, by consequence, neuroendocrine control of reproduction. Nevertheless its exact role during these processes and in the pathogenesis of congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) remains elusive due to the phenotypic differences observed between mouse and human. Zebrafish (ZF) has emerged in the last ten years as a reliable model organism for studying...

The G protein-coupled receptor PROKR2 play an important and not fully understood role in GnRH-secreting neurons physiology. Indeed, mutations of PROKR2 in humans are known to cause Congenital Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism (CHH) although with an important reproductive and olfactory phenotypic heterogeneity. The attempt to mimic PROKR2 human allelic variants in mouse model has so far failed to give insights into the mechanisms involved. The zebrafish (ZF), due to its amenability...

Introduction: Regorafenib, a Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) recently approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer patients previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy, VEGF and EGFR inhibitors, may, like others TKIs produce hypothyroidism, but this effect has not been systematically evaluated so far.Description of methods: Prospective evaluation of thyroid function, autoimmunity and morphology during treatment with Regorafe...

Somatostatin exerts its inhibitory effects on hormone secretion and cell proliferation via five receptors subtypes (SST1-SST5). After agonist binding, receptor residues mainly located in the carboxyl terminal (CT) and in the third intracellular loop (IC3) are phosphorylated and β-arrestins are recruited to drive SSTRs internalization.Aim of the study is to characterize the intracellular mechanisms responsible for SST2 internalization and identify th...

Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the first cause of death in patients with cirrhosis, with an incidence of 3–5% per year and a survival of 0–10% 5 years after the diagnosis. Major risk factors for HCC are HCV, HBV infection and alcohol, while a specific cause is not identifiable in 5–30% of cases. Several studies have shown a strong association between metabolic syndrome (MS), characterized by insulin-resistance (IR) and central obesity, and HCC; ...

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are rare tumour showing a wide spectrum of clinical behaviours. Therapeutic options available for NET treatment are rarely curative and mostly palliative, as NETs frequently show resistance to pharmacological therapy. Cancers develop in complex tissue environments, which they depend on. Tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) are a major cellular component of the tumour microenvironment. Two polarized state of macrophages are described in literatur...

CHH is a rare disease with a relevant genetic background, and is characterized by a failure to enter (complete forms) or to complete (partial forms) pubertal development. It requires a treatment to allow the completion of puberty, and in male this goal can be achieved either using testosterone replacement therapy or administering gonadotropins (Gn); the latter allows both testicular development and the endogenous testosterone production. There are few studies evaluating the th...

Background: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health emergency and raises the issue of psychological and physical resilience in more vulnerable patients. We investigated the emotional impact of the SARS-CoV-2 spread among cancer patients, followed at our Institution in Italy, after the restrictive measures imposed by the government and the disruption of planned clinical activities.Methods: From March 18th to April 1st, 2020, we...