Endocrine Abstracts

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) regulate growth, differentiation and apoptosis in a variety of tissues and have crucial roles in the regulation of reproduction. BMPs bind specific Type II receptors and form complexes with Type I receptors (Alk2, 3 or 6) whereby the Type II receptors activate Type I receptors by phosphorylation. BMP2 and 4 play a crucial role in the development of the gonadotroph cell lineage during mouse pituitary morphogenesis and BMP6, 7, and 15 stimulate...

BACKGROUND: Patients with dyspepsia are treated with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) which reduce acid secretion and therefore give rise to a secondary hypergastrinaemia. Gastrinomas are a rare cause of dyspepsia diagnosed on the basis of a raised fasting gastrin measurement. Therefore, when screening patients with dyspepsia for a gastrinoma, PPIs must be withdrawn for 2 weeks, prior to the measurement of fasting gastrin levels to ensure that fasting gastrin levels are back to b...

Background: Phaeochromocytomas (PC) are rare tumours of chromaffin cells which may present with relatively common and non-specific symptomatology. The optimal biochemical investigation to confirm or refute the diagnosis remains unclear; some centres use fractionated plasma metanephrines, which are very sensitive but lack specificity, while others use conventional measurements of urinary metanephrines, which may be affected by concurrent drug administration and are less sensiti...

Prostaglandin F2a (PGF) is biosynthesised by cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes and mediates its activity following FP receptor activation. Recently, we have shown elevated FP receptor expression and signalling in endometrial adenocarcinomas. This study investigated FP receptor signalling in human endometrial adenocarcinoma (Ishikawa) cells.Ishikawa cells were stably transfected with FP receptor cDNA in the sense (FPS) and antisense (FPAS) orientati...

Whilst surgery and external beam radiotherapy remain cornerstones of the management of acromegaly, recent guidelines have emphasised the importance of adjunctive medical therapy [e.g. with somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs), dopamine agonists, growth hormone (GH) receptor antagonists] in attaining 'safe' GH and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels, especially in patients who are not 'cured' following primary intervention. Several studies have established the efficacy ...

Case report;A 42-year-old male presented with headache, coarserning of facial features, enlargement of body parts of 2 years duration. There was no visual disturbance. His height was 168cms, wt 71kg and BMI of 25Kg/ per met square.He was normotensive .Biochemical and hormonal profile revealed he was euglycemic, euthyroid, serum cortisol(am)280nmo/lit(normal 450-700nmo/lit) non suprresible GH values of 46 ng/ml with 75gms of oral glucose (normal< 1 ng ...

A previously well 75 year old man, presented with progressive right sided weakness and ataxia of three months duration that had worsened considerably during the previous 3 weeks. On examination, there was right hemiparesis, marked ataxia, sluggish pupillary responses and an extensive right sided visual field deficit confirmed by formal visual field testing. CT brain large suprasellar mass extending into pituitary fossa. MRI brain confirmed it to be a large pituitary macroadeno...

Today calcitonin (CT) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are widely used as markers of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Postoperative CT and CEA normalization is a favorable prognostic factor. The work was initiated to assess CEA diagnostic and prognostic value before and after surgery in patients with familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (FMTC). Methods: blood serum from 11 patients with FMTC (mean age 27.4 plus/minus 3.2) undergoing total thyroidectomy and lymph node disse...

A 55 year old lady presented to our hospital in 1991 with a year's history of diarrhoea, weight loss and abdominal pain. On examination, she had 5cm hepatomegaly. Serum gastrin was elevated (148 pmol per litre NR < 40), as was GAWK (276 pmol per litre NR < 150). Basal gastric acid secretion was increased (39 mmol per hour NR < 5). CT abdomen showed multiple hepatic metastases, confirmed to be neuroendocrine in origin on biopsy. There were no clinical or biochemical fe...