Endocrine Abstracts

Commercialisation and the development of new technologies may be thought of as the natural conclusion of academic research. Typically this has been the preserve of industry, however, more recently translation has become a key aspect of any scientific research programme. The processes involved in the translation of basic and clinical research will be discussed in the context of an in-house drug discovery programme, highlighting the differences between hypothesis and goal-driven...

Background: Ovarian granulosa cell tumours are rare, aggressive, hormonally active neoplasms.Case: A 16-year-old, nulliparous, Eastern European woman presented with a 9-month history of secondary amenorrhoea and a 2-month history of galactorrhoea. She denied headache or visual symptoms. Past medical history was unremarkable with menarche at age 14 and a previously normal menstrual cycle. She had never used hormonal contraception. Only medications were pa...

We report two cases of hypernatraemia with reset osmostat and pituitary dysfunction.A 35-year-old male was referred with Graves’ thyrotoxicosis associated with hypokalaemic periodic paralysis and an incidental serum sodium 154 mmol/l. He complained of polyuria and nocturia but denied excessive thirst and was otherwise well. Height was 193 cm with BMI 29.5. He had gynaecomastia and sparse body hair. He had a small 6 ml right testicle (originally und...

Recent reports have raised concerns that dopamine agonist drugs, particularly cabergoline and pergolide, may be associated with cardiac valvulopathy. Dopamine agonists exert their prolactin-suppressive effect via lactotroph D2S receptors, while cardiac fibrosis appears to be mediated via 5HT2B receptors. We have assessed the receptor binding and functional effects of a range of dopamine agonists to determine their relative potencies at these two receptors...

Autotaxin (ATX) is a secreted enzyme that generates the lipid signalling molecule LPAs from LPCs. The ATX/lPA axis is strongly linked to fibrotic diseases and therapeutic inhibitors are in development. Assessing the balance of LPC/lPA in diseased target tissues is critical to inform pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK-PD) and predict efficacy of ATX inhibitors in vivo. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) allows concomitant measurement of multiple molecules with histopat...

The main-stay management of Beta thalassaemia major is blood transfusion but this carries a risk of endocrinopathy from hemosiderosis in endocrine organs. Iron chelation therapy aims to mitigate this risk. Access to this therapy isn’t available in some healthcare systems. Known Syrian refugee diagnosed with Beta thalassaemia major in infancy referred via the refugee medical services for thalassaemia management. There was previous history of intermittent transfusion suppor...

Background: Papillary thyroid cancer is the commonest thyroid malignancy. Surgery is first-line treatment, followed by radioiodine and long-term, high dose levothyroxine to suppress TSH.Cortisol is known to suppress TSH secretion by the pituitary, although the mechanism remains unclear. Correspondingly, hypocortisolism may raise TSH levels.Case Summary: A 64 year old woman presented with a right-sided thyroid nodule, normal TSH and...

Introduction: Immunoassays are important tools in the diagnosis and management of disease; however, they are not free from interference by cross-reacting substances. Discordant clinical evidence and laboratory results raised suspicion of interference in a patient with persistently raised parathyroid hormone.Case Presentation: Case description: A 56-year-old Caucasian female previously diagnosed with hypothyroidism consistently demonstrated elevated PTH l...

Objective: Therapeutic glucocorticoids (GCs) are commonly used in the treatment of chronic inflammatory disease. Unfortunately, their long-term administration is associated with deleterious systemic side effects including muscle atrophy. 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11βHSD1) activates glucocorticoids within muscle, is increased with inflammation, and has previously been shown to mediate GC induced muscle wasting. We examined the role of 11 beta-hydroxyster...

Background: The introduction of somatostatin analogues for the treatment of acromegaly has relegated dopamine agonists, once a mainstay of treatment, down the therapeutic ladder. Dopamine agonists are, however, added to somatostatin analogues to control active disease in some patients, in an attempt to achieve biochemical control. There are no reports, however, assessing this practise.Aim: To assess the effectiveness of adding dopamine agonist therapy to...