Clinical endocrinology
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Clinical endocrinology · Sep 1999
Comparative StudyThe quality of life of adults with growth hormone deficiency: comparison with diabetic patients and control subjects.
Adults with GH deficiency (GHD) frequently report a poor quality of life (QOL). Whether this poor QOL is specifically due to hormone deficiency or a non specific effect of a chronic condition is not known. We therefore assessed QOL in adults with hypopituitarism and GHD and compared scores with a group of patients with diabetes mellitus, another life-long condition with potentially serious complications and a group of healthy controls. ⋯ This study revealed a significant impairment of QOL in adults with GHD, particularly those who had undergone cranial surgery, when compared to matched patients with diabetes and healthy controls.
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Clinical endocrinology · Sep 1999
p16 (INK4a, MTS-1) gene polymorphism and methylation status in human pituitary tumours.
The p16 gene, which encodes a physiological inhibitor of the cyclin D-CDK4 complex, is now considered as an important tumour-suppressor gene in a variety of tumours. A marked reduction of its expression has been reported to occur without significant genetic alterations in human pituitary adenomas, although rare point mutations of uncertain functional significance have been described. On the other hand, p16 gene silencing due to hypermethylation has been reported in several human primary tumours. The aim of this study was to further investigate the pathogenetic events leading to p16 gene inactivation in pituitary tumours. ⋯ This study confirms that p16 gene mutations are not involved in the pathogenesis of human pituitary tumours, although polymorphisms can be demonstrated, depending on the population considered. In contrast, the high incidence of hypermethylation of the p16 gene suggests that such an alteration occurs early in pituitary tumours, and may play a role in pituitary tumorigenesis.