Hip Structure Analyses in Acromegaly: Decrease of Cortical Bone Thickness After Treatment: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Long-standing growth hormone (GH) excess causes the skeletal clinical signs of acromegaly with typical changes in bone geometry, including increased cortical bone thickness (CBT). However, a high prevalence and incidence of vertebral fractures has been reported. The aim of this study was to assess the course of cortical bone dimensions in the hip by comparing patients with acromegaly and clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) at baseline and 1 year after pituitary surgery (1-year PO) in a longitudinal cohort study. DXA was performed in patients with acromegaly (n = 56) and NFPA (n = 47). CBT in the femoral neck (CBTneck), calcar (CBTcalcar), and shaft (CBTshaft) were determined by hip structural analysis (HSA). CBT at baseline and the change to 1-year PO were compared. Test results were adjusted for differences in gender distribution, age, and gonadal status. Cortical thickness analyses showed higher values [mm] at baseline in patients with acromegaly compared with NFPA: CBTneck median [25th; 75th] 6.2 [4.7; 8.0] versus 5.1 [4.1; 6.4] (p = 0.006), CBTcalcar 4.8 [4.2, 5.7] versus 4.0 [3.2, 4.5] (p < 0.001), CBTshaft 6.2 [5.1, 7.2] versus 5.2 [4.6, 6.0], (p = 0.003). In acromegaly, GH was correlated with CBTneck (r = 0.31, p = 0.020), whereas IGF-1 was correlated with CBTcalcar (r = 0.39, p = 0.003) at baseline. In acromegaly, CBTneck decreased by 11.2%, p = 0.002 during follow-up. Finally, the decrease in CBTneck and CBTcalcar in acromegaly was significant compared with NFPA (p = 0.023 and p = 0.017, respectively). Previous observations of increased CBT in acromegaly were confirmed with DXA-derived HSA in a large, well-defined cohort. The decline in CBT in acromegaly could contribute to the increased fracture risk in acromegaly despite increased bone dimensions and disease control. © 2019 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Prediction of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Pre-diabetes 5 Years Postpartum using 75 g Oral Glucose Tolerance Test at 14-16 Weeks' Gestation.

Early detection and treatment of women at risk for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) could improve perinatal and long-term outcomes in GDM women and their offspring. We explored if a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 14-16 weeks of gestation could identify women who will (1) develop GDM or give birth to large-for-gestational-age (LGA) babies in 1031 pregnant women from the STORK study using different diagnostic criteria (WHO1999, IADPSG2010, WHO2013, NORWAY2017) and (2) develop pre-diabetes 5 years postpartum focusing on first trimester ß-cell function in a separate study of 300 women from the STORK cohort. The sensitivity of the 14-16 week OGTT to identify women who would develop GDM or have LGA babies was low, and we could not identify alternative cut-offs to exclude women not at risk or identify women that could benefit from early intervention. First trimester ß-cell function was a stronger determinant than third trimester ß-cell function of predicting maternal pre-diabetes. In conclusion, in our normal low-risk population, the 75 g OGTT at 14-16 weeks is insufficient to identify candidates for early treatment of GDM or identify women not likely to develop GDM or have LGA babies. First trimester ß-cell function may predict pre-diabetes 5 years postpartum.

The role of E and N-cadherin in the postoperative course of gonadotroph pituitary tumours.

PURPOSE: Gonadotroph tumours are the most abundant of the clinically silent pituitary tumours. There is a lack of reliable prognostic markers predicting their clinical course. Our aim was to determine the level of E-cadherin and N-cadherin in a cohort of clinically silent gonadotroph pituitary tumours, and compare them to the rate of reintervention. METHODS: Tumour tissue from primary surgery was retrospectively investigated and compared with clinical data. Immunohistochemical (N = 105) and real time-qPCR (N = 85) analyses for the levels of N-cadherin and the extra- and intracellular domains of E-cadherin were performed. The immunoreactive scores (IRS) and mRNA relative quantity were compared to the rate of reintervention. RESULTS: The tumours presented a high IRS for N-cadherin (Median 12 (IQR 12-12)) and almost no immunoreactivity for the extracellular domain of E-cadherin (Median 0 (IQR 0-0)). The membranous staining for the intracellular domain of E-cadherin varied (Median 6 (IQR 4-6). Reduced membranous expression of the intracellular domain of E-cadherin was associated with nuclear presence of the same domain. Nuclear staining for the intracellular domain of E-cadherin was associated with a lower rate of reintervention (p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: We found that silent gonadotroph tumours presented high IRS for N-cadherin and low IRS for the extracellular domain of E-cadherin. A substantial proportion of the tumours presented nuclear staining for the intracellular domain of E-cadherin, accompanied by a reduced membranous expression of the intracellular domain of E-cadherin. Absence of nuclear staining for the intracellular domain of E-cadherin served as an independent predictor of reintervention.

Gene expression profiling of fast- and slow-growing non-functioning gonadotroph pituitary adenomas.

OBJECTIVE: Reliable biomarkers associated with aggressiveness of non-functioning gonadotroph adenomas (GAs) are lacking. As the growth of tumor remnants is highly variable, molecular markers for growth potential prediction are necessary. We hypothesized that fast- and slow-growing GAs present different gene expression profiles and reliable biomarkers for tumor growth potential could be identified, focusing on the specific role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). DESIGN AND METHODS: Eight GAs selected for RNA sequencing were equally divided into fast- and slow-growing group by the tumor volume doubling time (TVDT) median (27.75 months). Data were analyzed by tophat2, cufflinks and cummeRbund pipeline. 40 genes were selected for RT-qPCR validation in 20 GAs based on significance, fold-change and pathway analyses. The effect of silencing MTDH (metadherin) and EMCN (endomucin) on in vitro migration of human adenoma cells was evaluated. RESULTS: 350 genes were significantly differentially expressed (282 genes upregulated and 68 downregulated in the fast group, P-adjusted <0.05). Among 40 selected genes, 11 showed associations with TVDT (-0.669

Estrogen Receptor α, a Sex-Dependent Predictor of Aggressiveness in Nonfunctioning Pituitary Adenomas: SSTR and Sex Hormone Receptor Distribution in NFPA.

Context: Nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) are fairly common and require a multidisciplinary approach. Reliable markers of a clinically aggressive course are lacking. Medical treatment is not available, and transsphenoidal surgery is the preferred primary treatment. Objective: We aimed to characterize the somatostatin, estrogen, and progesterone receptor distribution for NFPAs and compare it with factors of tumor aggressiveness. Design: Tumor samples for immunohistochemistry (n = 145) and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (n = 106) analyses of somatostatin receptor (SSTR) 1, SSTR2, SSTR3, SSTR5, estrogen receptor α (ERα), and progesterone receptor (PR) were measured by immunoreactive score (IRS) and messenger RNA relative quantity and retrospectively compared with variables of aggressiveness. Setting: All patients were operated at the same tertiary referral center. Participants: A total of 164 patients with NFPA and tumor tissue from the primary operation were included. Results: SSTR3 was expressed abundantly by immunohistochemistry in all NFPAs. The IRS of ERα correlated with that of SSTR2 in male patients only (males, P < 0.001; females, P = 0.8). Low ERα level was linked to a higher reintervention rate (P = 0.001) and earlier reintervention (P = 0.004) in male patients only (females, P = 0.95 and P = 0.65, respectively). Absence of ERα together with age provided a good prediction model for reintervention in male patients with gonadotroph adenomas. Conclusions: SSTR3 is expressed abundantly in NFPAs and is therefore a possible target for medical treatment. Absence of ERα together with young age may predict tumor recurrence in groups of NFPAs. Further validation in systematic prospective studies is needed.

Selection and validation of reliable reference genes for RT-qPCR analysis in a large cohort of pituitary adenomas.

BACKGROUND: Real-time reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) has become the method of choice for quantification of gene expression changes. The most important limitations of RT-qPCR are inappropriate data normalization and inconsistent data analyses. Pituitary adenomas are common tumours, and the appropriate interpretation of increasingly published data within this field is prevented by the lack of a proper selection and validation of stably expressed reference genes. AIM: To find and validate the optimal reference gene or gene combination for reliable RT-qPCR gene expression in both non-functioning (NFPA) and hormone secreting (GH and ACTH) pituitary adenomas. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty commonly used reference genes (PCR array reference gene panel, BioRad, Hercules, CA) were quantified by RT-qPCR in 24 pituitary adenomas (12 NFPA, 8 GH and 4 ACTH). The data was analysed using three programs: geNorm (Qbase+), Normfinder and BestKeeper having different algorithms to identify the most stable reference gene or combination of reference genes. Three reference genes ALAS1, PSMC4 and GAPDH, were selected for further validation in a larger cohort of 223 adenomas (141 NFPA, 63 GH and 19 ACTH). RESULTS: In all adenomas, ALAS1 and PSMC4 were the most stable reference genes as estimated by geNorm and Normfinder, whereas Bestkeeper ranked RPLP0 and ACTB as the two most stable out of 10 carefully selected genes. The best gene combination was PSMC4 and ALAS1 (geNorm) or PSMC4 and GAPDH (Normfinder). The validation experiment (geNorm) showed that the most stable gene combinations were ALAS1 and GAPDH in NFPA, and PSMC4 and GAPDH in hormone secreting adenomas. CONCLUSIONS: Several of the reference genes expressed good stability yielding several candidate genes. PSMC4 and ALAS1 were overall the most stably expressed genes in pituitary adenoma merely differing in ranking order. PSMC4 and ALAS1 have so far not been reported as reference genes in pituitary adenomas. The various reference gene algorithms showed a mixed selection of top ranked genes, thus suggesting a need for an individualised and rational choice of reference genes.