Further evidence for a susceptibility locus on chromosome 20q13.11 in families with dominant transmission of Graves disease.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Kendall-Taylor.
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OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of serotonin in pituitary hormone release by studying the effect of a specific 5HT2 receptor antagonist, ICI 169,369, on the ACTH, prolactin, growth hormone and AVP response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in healthy humans. DESIGN: A double-blind, within-subject trial using a crossover design to compare the effect of placebo with two doses of ICI 169,369 on pituitary hormone responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia. PATIENTS: Ten healthy subjects were studied in the low-dose (30 mg x 2) limb and 11 healthy volunteers in the high-dose (80 mg x 2) limb. MEASUREMENTS: Plasma concentrations of prolactin, growth hormone, ACTH, cortisol and AVP, and blood glucose. RESULTS: In the low-dose study, pretreatment with 30 mg ICI 169,369, 10 and 2 hours before the study, had no effect on the fall in blood glucose or the rise in plasma ACTH, prolactin, growth hormone, AVP or plasma cortisol following insulin injection, when compared with placebo. In the high-dose study the effect of a higher dose (80 mg) of ICI 169,369 on the pituitary hormone response to hypoglycaemia was compared with that of placebo. Although the fall in blood glucose was similar following drug (4.3 +/- 0.1 to 1.5 +/- 0.5 mmol/l, mean +/- SEM, P less than 0.001) and placebo (4.3 +/- 0.1 to 1.4 +/- 0.4 mmol/l, P less than 0.001), the rise in plasma AVP was lower (P less than 0.05) following pretreatment with drug (0.5 +/- 0.2 to 2.1 +/- 0.6 pmol/l, P less than 0.05) than with placebo (0.7 +/- 0.2 to 3.4 +/- 0.9 pmol/l, P less than 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The ACTH, prolactin, growth hormone and cortisol responses were unaffected by ICI 169,369. The data are compatible with an inhibitory effect of the serotonin antagonist ICI 169,369 on the AVP, but not the ACTH, prolactin or growth hormone response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in humans.
OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate the hormone secretory products of a pituitary tumour from a patient with multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN I) utilizing cell culture and immunoassay techniques. DESIGN: Adenoma tissue was enzymically dispersed and established in cell culture. Medium was collected for hormone measurement after 2 days, and also after 24-hour periods during long-term culture. In addition, tissue fixed at surgery was analysed by immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy. PATIENT: The subject was a 59-year-old male with a clinical history characteristic of familial MEN I syndrome. MEASUREMENTS: Pituitary hormones in serum and culture medium were measured by fully characterized radioimmunoassays. RESULTS: Preoperative serum LH and FSH levels were normal, or slightly elevated, and there was a progressively blunted gonadotrophin response to GnRH throughout the 8 years prior to adenomectomy. TRH induced a small, paradoxical increase in serum gonadotrophin levels 2 weeks preoperatively. Post-operative pituitary hormone responses to standard stimulation tests showed an active normal pituitary. In vitro, the pituitary tumour cells secreted only gonadotrophins and glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit. The fixed tumour tissue immunostained for alpha-subunit alone, and electron microscopy confirmed the presence of secretory granules with diameters of 100-280 nm. Gonadotrophin secretion continued throughout 77 days in long-term culture, but whilst LH was released at a steady rate, that of FSH transiently increased between days 29 and 48 in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that a pituitary tumour associated with the MEN I syndrome secreted gonadotrophins in vitro.
This study was undertaken to evaluate GH, IGF1 and drug levels during incremental continuous subcutaneous infusion of octreotide and compare these parameters following long-term treatment of 300 micrograms 24 h-1 by intermittent injection in a group of acromegalic patients. Ten patients were treated by continuous subcutaneous infusion in increasing dose from 200 micrograms 24 h-1 to 1600 micrograms 24 h-1; this resulted in consistent 24-h growth hormone suppression (less than 5.0 mU l-1), and normalisation of IGF1; the optimum dose was 400 micrograms 24 h-1, the maximum dose was tolerated without any untoward effects. There was no deterioration in carbohydrate tolerance despite a marked decrease in fasting and stimulated insulin levels. After 1 year of maintenance treatment, 300 micrograms 24 h-1 by intermittent injection, patients were re-evaluated; GH levels were not so consistently suppressed over the 24-h period and carbohydrate tolerance had deteriorated. A sub-group of patients with sub-optimal GH suppression on this regimen were identified and reassessed after 6 weeks treatment with an increased dose, 600 micrograms 24 h-1 by intermittent injection; both mean GH suppression and carbohydrate tolerance improved. The dose of drug and method of administration is best adjusted for each patient to achieve optimum GH suppression, thereby minimise compensatory hyperinsuliaemia and hopefully reduce morbidity and mortality. Alterations in pituitary tumour size and acquisition of gallstones during treatment have been observed which substantiate the need to re-evaluate these parameters on routine follow-up of acromegalic patients on long-term octreotide.
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Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy is thought to be an autoimmune disease affecting the orbit. The precise pathogenetic mechanisms are not known, but extraocular muscle and/or orbital fibroblasts are the likely targets of the autoimmune attack. Sera from 41 normal controls, 79 patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy and 72 patients with other autoimmune diseases were examined for antibodies to cultured orbital fibroblasts and extraocular muscle by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Orbital fibroblast antibody levels varied widely in all subject groups studied, and failed to distinguish patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy from patients with other autoimmune diseases or controls. Eye-muscle binding antibody levels were higher amongst patients with ophthalmopathy compared to normal controls and patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism without clinical evidence of ophthalmopathy. Furthermore, eye-muscle binding antibody levels were found to be particularly high in patients with ophthalmopathy and concurrent dermopathy, and in patients with ophthalmic (euthyroid) Graves' disease.
Octreotide is increasingly being used in the treatment of acromegaly. It effectively suppresses growth hormone secretion but also has inhibitory effects on gastrointestinal regulatory peptides and induces gallbladder paresis, which may predispose to gallstone formation. In nine acromegalic patients receiving long-term octreotide treatment gallbladder emptying, assessed by 99Tc-EHIDA scintigraphy after a standard fatty meal, was significantly impaired (p less than 0.005) when compared with normal healthy control subjects. Asymptomatic gallstone formation occurred in one patient who had the most severely impaired gallbladder emptying. Between 24 and 96 h after cessation of octreotide, in six of seven patients studied, gallbladder emptying had not only recovered but demonstrated significant rebound hypermotility (p less than 0.005). This finding has important implications for the administration of long-term octreotide therapy and suggests that a drug-free period each week may enable evacuation of gallbladder contents and reduce the risk of gallstone formation.
To determine whether antibodies to orbital tissue have a pathogenic role in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy, the in vitro effects of IgG from patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy on porcine extraocular myoblast growth were studied. Growth of primary extraocular myoblast cultures and extraocular myoblast clones was stimulated by patients' IgG, as measured by [3H]thymidine uptake and bromodeoxyuridine incorporation. Myoblasts responded in a dose-related fashion to increasing concentrations of patients' IgG, and the response was reversed by anti-human IgG. The growth stimulating effect of patients' IgG was relatively specific to extraocular myoblasts, compared to skeletal myoblasts. Individual IgG samples from 36 patients with ophthalmopathy gave rise to higher growth responses of cloned extraocular myoblasts, than either 31 normal controls (p < 0.005), or IgG from 10 patients with Graves' disease without evidence of ophthalmopathy (p < 0.001). Myoblast growth-stimulating antibody did not correlate with thyroid autoantibody levels (thyrotrophin receptor antibody or thyroid microsomal antibody levels), but correlated significantly with binding to extraocular muscle membranes (r = 0.524, p < 0.001). Eye-muscle stimulating antibodies were demonstrable in sera of patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy, and may be responsible for the enlargement of eye muscle in this disease.
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L-363,586 is a cyclic, hexapeptide analogue of somatostatin-14 with potent inhibitory actions on rat growth hormone (GH) release in vitro. The studies reported here investigate the direct effects of L-363,586 on basal and growth hormone-releasing factor (GRF)-stimulated GH secretion from 3 human somatotrophinomas in dispersed cell culture. 1nM and 10nM L-363,586 inhibited both basal and GRF-stimulated GH release from cells of all 3 somatotrophinomas during a 2h treatment period, whilst 100nM L-363,586 had a prolonged inhibitory action on basal GH secretion from cells of 2 of the tumours throughout treatment and recovery periods. Rebound release of GH was observed with cells of 1 tumour following treatment with L-363,586 plus GRF. The actions of L-363,586 were similar to those of somatostatin-14. These data suggest that L-363,586 may have a role in the treatment of acromegaly.
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Carbohydrate tolerance and serum lipids were studied in 14 patients with acromegaly before and in response to treatment with high dose somatostatin analogue (octreotide) over a 14-week period. Patients were assessed with respect to growth hormone (GH) profile, IGF1, HbA1, fasting lipids, and the GH, glucose, and insulin response to a standard 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) before and during therapy. Prior to treatment mean fasting serum insulin levels were 11.7 +/- 2.8 (+/- SE) mU I-1 with a mean insulin response to OGTT of 49.8 +/- 10.8 mU I-1. Twelve of the 14 patients responded to octreotide with a reduction in mean 24-h serum GH (32.9 +/- 9.3 to 4.3 +/- 0.9 mU I-1), suppression of GH at 60 min during OGTT (3.0 +/- 0.8 mU I-1) and normalization of serum IGF1 (71 +/- 7 to 27 +/- 3 (normal 9-48 nmol I-1)). In this group the fasting insulin levels fell to 2.2 +/- 0.7 mU I-1 (p less than 0.01), and mean insulin response during OGTT was reduced (46.6 +/- 15.0 to 12.3 +/- 2.3 mU I-1) (p less than 0.01). Despite the reduction in insulin secretion there was no significant deterioration in fasting blood glucose (4.8 +/- 0.2 vs 4.6 +/- 0.4 mmol I-1), HbA1 (7.2 +/- 0.3 vs 6.8 +/- 0.3%) or mean blood glucose response to OGTT (7.9 +/- 0.7 vs 8.2 +/- 0.5 mmol I-1). Fasting triglycerides were reduced with treatment from 1.5 +/- 0.2 to 1.1 +/- 0.1 mmol I-1 (p = 0.04) in the responsive group, but serum cholesterol levels were not significantly altered (5.3 +/- 0.3 vs 5.2 +/- 0.3 mmol I-1).
Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-II receptors have previously been demonstrated on membranes prepared from human somatotrophinomas. IGF-I has been shown to have a variable effect on GH secretion by these tumours in vitro. The effects of purified IGF-II on GH secretion have not been described. We have studied the direct actions of human recombinant IGF-II on GH release from eight somatotrophinomas cultured in vitro. Somatotrophinoma cells were cultured as monolayers at a density of 10(5) cells/0.5 ml. Treatment with IGF-II for 4 and 24 h resulted in discrete inhibitory effects on GH release from two tumours (tumour 5: 4 h, IGF-II 0.5 nmol/l; tumour 2; 24 h, IGF-II 1 nmol/l). Treatment with IGF-II for 24 h resulted in significant inhibitory effects on GH release from one tumour over a range of concentrations tested (IGF-II 0.5-10 nmol/l). Addition of human GH-releasing factor (hGRF) (1-44) (20 nmol/l) for 4 and 24 h resulted in stimulation of GH release by five tumours. Two tumours demonstrated significant inhibitory effects of IGF-II on GRF-stimulated GH release (tumour 2: 24 h, IGF-II 1-5 nmol/l; tumour 3; 4 h, IGF-II 5 nmol/l; 24 h, IGF-II 0.5-50 nmol/l). These data emphasize the heterogeneity of somatotrophinomas in terms of their response to modulators of GH secretion. IGF-II does not appear to have a modulatory role on GH release by most somatotrophinomas.
Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was measured in the saliva of 36 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) and 29 matched control subjects. Salivary EGF in controls was 0.65 +/- 0.009 nmol/L compared with 0.99 +/- 0.24 nmol/L in nondialyzed CRF patients, 1.15 +/- 0.23 in hemodialyzed patients and 1.96 +/- 0.25 (p less than 0.01, Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test) in CAPD-treated patients. On Sephadex chromatography, the major peak of immunoreactive EGF from patient and control saliva samples coeluted with purified human EGF. We conclude that salivary concentrations of human EGF are significantly elevated in end-stage renal failure, particularly in patients treated by CAPD.
Pseudohypoparathyroidism is a complex disorder of renal resistance to parathyroid hormone the mechanism of which is unclear. It is often associated with skeletal abnormalities and there may also be other hormonal defects. This is an extensive endocrinological investigation of five of six affected members in two generations of one family. The phenotypic variability of the syndrome is explored: four members had hypothyroidism; two had abnormal gonadal function; all five had abnormal prolactin response to TRH; one had abnormal hepatic response to glucagon infusion. All had normal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes, renal responsiveness to vasopressin and growth hormone responses to a variety of stimuli. Special note is made of oral pathology, and evidence of platelet aggregation abnormalities is presented which has not previously been described in the syndrome.