Endothelial dysfunction in patients with acromegaly and It's association with Endocan

Can signal peptide-CUB-EGF domain-containing protein 1 (SCUBE-1) be used as an indicator of endothelial dysfunction in acromegaly patients?

PURPOSE

Acromegaly is closely related to increased oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction (ED). This study aimed to evaluate, for the first time in the literature, signal peptide-CUB-EGF domain-containing protein 1 (SCUBE-1) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase e(NOS) levels in the setting of acromegaly.

METHOD

A total of 56 acromegaly patients and a control group composed of 30 healthy volunteers were included in this study. In the postoperative follow-up, patients were grouped as active or in-remission according to their GH and IGF-1 levels in oral glucose stimulation test (OGST). After detailed physical examination of acromegaly patients and the control subjects, 8-hour fasting blood samples were collected to evaluate biochemical parameters including lipid profile, anterior pituitary hormones, and SCUBE-1 and e(NOS) levels.

RESULTS

Inactive and active acromegaly was noted in 78.6% and 21.4% of patients, respectively. The median (min-max) SCUBE-1 levels were significantly higher in the inactive acromegaly and active acromegaly groups than in the control group (1.6(0.4-2.4) and 1.8(1.1-2.5) vs. 0.4(0.2-1.0) ng/mL, respectively, p < 0.001 for each). The median (min-max) e(NOS) levels were significantly higher in the inactive acromegaly and active acromegaly groups than in the control group (132.7 (26.8-602.9) and 137.3 (69.7-488.7) vs. 83.9 (16.4-218.7) pg/mL, p = 0.018 and p = 0.048, respectively). We have also detected positive correlations of e(NOS) with leukocyte (r = 0.307, p = 0.021) and neutrophil counts (r = 0.309, p = 0.021).

CONCLUSION

Our study revealed for the first time in literature that SCUBE-1 levels, being a novel marker for ED, were significantly higher in acromegaly patients than in control subjects. When supported with clinical studies, SCUBE-1can be used as an early indicator of endothelial damage in acromegaly patients.

Endothelial impairment evaluation by peripheral arterial tonometry in pediatric endocrinopathies: A narrative review

Endothelial dysfunction (ED) is characterized by an imbalance between vasodilator and vasoconstriction agents. Several pathological conditions clinically diagnosed in childhood and adolescence are characterized by ED and increased risk for early development of microangiopathic and macroangiopathic impairment, in particular type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), T2DM, obesity, metabolic syndromeand pituitary dysfunction associated to various endocrinopathies. More recently insulin resistance following chemotherapy or radiotherapy for tumors, bone marrow transplantation for hematological malignancies (i.e., cancer survivors), or immunosuppressive treatment for solid organ transplantation has been observed. Assessment of ED by means of non-invasive techniques is the gold standard for early ED detection before clinical manifestation. It is aimed to recognize patients at risk and to avoid the development and progression of more serious illnesses. Reactive hyperemia-peripheral artery tonometry is a noninvasive technique to assess peripheral endothelial function by measuring modifications in digital pulse volume during reactive hyperemia, and represents a non-invasive, reproducible and operator-independent tool able to detect precocious ED. This narrative review aimed to provide an overview of the most important papers regarding ED detection by EndoPat 2000 in children and adolescents with different endocrine diseases. A comprehensive search of English language articles was performed in the MEDLINE database without using other search filters except the publication interval between 2005 and 2020.