First-line octreotide-LAR therapy induces tumour shrinkage and controls hormone excess in patients with acromegaly: results from an open, prospective, multicentre trial.

Background: The majority of patients with acromegaly have large tumours and the outcome of conventional management remains poor.

Objective: To investigate the clinical application of octreotide-LAR as primary treatment in newly diagnosed patients with GH-secreting pituitary tumours.

Design: Open, prospective, multicentre, 24-week follow-up study.

Effect of different therapeutic modalities on spontaneous GH secretion in acromegalic patients.

Objectives: Three major therapeutic modalities (transsphenoidal surgery, radiotherapy and medical therapy) are currently available for acromegaly. Although surgery is regarded as the primary option, 50--60% of macroadenomas require further treatment in the form of radiotherapy and/or medical therapy. Recent studies have suggested that radiotherapy might damage the normal hypothalamic-pituitary axis and also rarely leads to IGF-I normalization.

Somatostatin and dopamine receptor expression in lung carcinoma cells and effects of chimeric somatostatin-dopamine molecules on cell proliferation.

To study somatostatin/dopamine (SS/D) synergy in a human cell system constitutively expressing SS and D receptors (SSR and DR, respectively), we characterized the expression of SSR and DR subtypes in the non-small-cell lung cancer line Calu-6, and then we evaluated the effect on cell proliferation of SS/D chimeric molecules (BIM-23A387 and BIM-23A370), which bind with high affinity both sst(2) and D(2)R, and compared the results with those obtained by using SS-14 and subtype-selective SS analogs (SSA) and D agonists (DA). Because Calu-6 cells produce insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and IGF-binding protein (IGFBP) peptides, which play a role in the autocrine/paracrine control of cell growth, we also investigated the effects of chimeric compounds on secretion and expression of IGF system components. Relative high levels of sst(2) and the long isoform of the D(2)R were detected by real-time RT-PCR and Western blot in Calu-6, together with sst(5) and to a lesser extent sst(3) and D(4)R.

Efficacy of octreotide-LAR in dieting women with abdominal obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome.

Context: Somatostatin reduces LH, GH, and insulin, and somatostatin receptors are present at the ovarian level; somatostatin analogs are thus potential candidates for treatment of the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of octreotide-LAR, a long-acting somatostatin analog, in anovulatory abdominal obese women with PCOS.

Design: A single-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed, lasting for 7 months.

Dopamine receptor expression and function in human normal adrenal gland and adrenal tumors.

Dopamine is known to play a role in the modulation of aldosterone and catecholamine secretion from the adrenal gland, where dopamine receptors (DR), in particular the DR type 2 (D(2)), have been found to be expressed. DR expression has also been demonstrated in some types of benign adrenal tumors. The aims of the current study were to evaluate DR expression and D(2) localization in the normal adrenal gland and in different types of benign and malignant adrenal tumors, as well as to evaluate the in vitro effects of the dopamine agonists bromocriptine and cabergoline on hormone secretion in nontumoral adrenal cells.

Assessment of disease activity in acromegaly by means of a single blood sample: comparison of the 120th minute postglucose value with spontaneous GH secretion and with the IGF system.

Objective: It has been suggested that the threshold of 1 micro g/l of GH nadir after glucose load for definition of controlled acromegalic disease proposed in the 2000 consensus statement should be lowered to 0.30. We evaluated these two cut-off values in comparison with IGF-I, ALS and IGFBP-3 in a group of acromegalic patients.

Potentiating role of IGFBP-2 on IGF-II-stimulated alkaline phosphatase activity in differentiating osteoblasts.

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system plays an important role in the autocrine and paracrine regulation of bone formation and remodeling. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the autocrine IGF system during osteogenic differentiation in rat tibial osteoblasts (ROB) in culture. In this in vitro model, the stages of osteogenesis studied were S1, corresponding to the onset of alkaline phosphatase (AP) expression (days 0-3); S2, coincident with the peak of AP expression in differentiation culture conditions (days 4-6), and S3, corresponding to the onset of mineral deposition in the extracellular matrix (days 7-9).

Protein turnover, lipolysis, and endogenous hormonal secretion in critically ill children.

Objectives: The catabolic state is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality of critical illness and may be related to endocrine changes. We studied whether protein and lipid turnover correlate with insulin and growth and thyroid hormone plasma levels in critically ill infants.

Design: Prospective clinical study.

Effects of growth hormone on leptin metabolism and energy expenditure in hemodialysis patients with protein-calorie malnutrition.

The relationships among growth hormone (GH), leptin, and resting energy expenditure (REE) are not understood. It has been reported that in malnourished hemodialysis patients, GH increases muscle protein synthesis, a process that requires energy. The present study evaluated the arterial levels and the forearm exchange of leptin, as well as the REE of the same patients during their participation in the same study, in four sequential 6-wk periods: I, baseline; II, GH treatment; III, washout; and IV, GH + intradialytic parenteral nutrition.