Acromegaly is a rare disease due to chronic GH excess and to the consequent increase in IGF-1 levels. Both GH and IGF-1 play a role in intermediate metabolism affecting glucose homeostasis. Indeed, chronic GH excess impairs insulin sensitivity, increases gluconeogenesis, reduces the glucose uptake in adipose tissue and muscle and alters pancreatic β cells function. As a consequence, glucose metabolism alterations are a very frequent complication in acromegaly patients, further contributing to the increased cardiovascular risk and mortality. Treatment modalities of acromegaly differently impact on glucose tolerance. Successful surgical treatment of acromegaly ameliorates glucose metabolism abnormalities. Drugs used to treat acromegaly patients may per se affect glucose homeostasis, therefore influencing patients' management. Indeed pegvisomant has been shown to positively impact on glucose metabolism, while somatostatin analogs, especially pasireotide, can cause hyperglycaemia. On the other hand, robust data on the effect of dopamine agonists on glycaemic profile are still lacking. This review summarizes the available data on diabetes mellitus in acromegaly patients, with a focus on the potential effects of the medical treatment of the disease on glucose homeostasis, providing an overview of the current state of the art.

Recurrence appears to be more frequent and earlier after TSS in patients with USP8 mutant corticotroph tumours.

Pituitary apoplexy is a rare clinical syndrome due to ischemic or haemorrhagic necrosis of the pituitary gland which complicates 2–12% of pituitary tumours, especially nonfunctioning adenomas. In many cases, it results in severe neurological, ophthalmological, and endocrinological consequences and may require prompt surgical decompression. Pituitary apoplexy represents a rare medical emergency that necessitates a multidisciplinary approach. Modalities of treatment and times of intervention are still largely debated. Therefore, the management of patients with pituitary apoplexy is often empirically individualized and clinical outcome is inevitably related to the multidisciplinary team's skills and experience. This review aims to highlight the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in the management of pituitary apoplexy and to discuss modalities of presentation, treatment, and times of intervention.

SummaryCushing's disease (CD) is a rare disabling condition caused by Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting adenomas of the pituitary. The majority of corticotropic adenomas are monoclonal and occur sporadically. Only rarely does CD arise in the context of genetic familial syndromes. Targeted sequencing of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes commonly mutated in other tumours did not identify recurrent mutations. In contrast, next generation sequencing allowed us recently to clarify the genetic basis of CD: we identified somatic driver mutations in the ubiquitin-specific protease 8 (USP8) gene in a significant portion of corticotropinomas. These mutations represent a novel and unique mechanism leading to ACTH excess. Inhibition of USP8 or its downstream signalling pathways could represent a new therapeutic approach for the management of CD. In this review, we will focus on this new evidence and its implication for clinical care of affected patients. K E Y W O R D SAdrenocorticotropic hormone, corticotropinoma, cortisol, Cushing's syndrome, mutation, pituitary adenoma | INTRODUCTIONCushing′s disease (CD) is a rare devastating condition leading to chronic hypercortisolism. It is caused by Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting tumours (corticotropinomas) of the pituitary gland. With an incidence of 1.2-1.7 cases per million per year, its epidemiology is consistent with a classical rare disease.1 CD is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, the latter mainly due to cardiovascular events. 2Pituitary adenomas are mainly monoclonal neoplasms.3 The genetic basis of CD was unclear until recently when recurrent activating somatic driver mutations in the ubiquitin-specific protease 8 gene (USP8)were identified in almost half of corticotropinomas. 4-8 Based on this evidence, the pathophysiology of CD has become much clearer. In addition, identification of driver mutations opens up novel diagnostic and therapeutic options for CD. Abbreviations which are used throughout the text are defined in the appendix at the end of the article. | Mechanisms of tumorigenesisCorticotropinomas are characterized by altered expression of proteins regulating cell cycle progression. Overexpression of several cyclins has been frequently documented in pituitary adenomas, with overexpression of cyclin E (CCNE1) being specific for corticotropinomas. 9In contrast, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors such as p16/Ink4a and p27/Kip1 are downregulated in these tumours. [10][11][12] In particular, p27/ Kip1 protein is dramatically reduced in the majority of corticotropinomas.13 None of the factors that regulate p27 translation and could explain its downregulation at protein but not transcript level, such as dyskeratosis congenita (DKC1)/Dyskerin, ribosomal protein S13 (RPS13), miR221 and miR222, are deregulated in corticotropinomas.14 A recent study using quantitative real time PCR showed decreased transcripts for cyclin D1 and CCNE1 and increased for p16/Ink4 in the 10 CD tumours compared to 11 silent corticotropinomas and 22 n...

Context Glucocorticoid-induced myopathy is a characteristic symptom of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome. Its long-term outcome is largely unknown Objective To evaluate long-term muscle function following remission of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome Study design Observational longitudinal cohort study Setting Tertiary care hospitals and specialized outpatient clinic Patients As part of the prospective multicenter German Cushing’s Registry we assessed muscle strength in patients with overt endogenous Cushing’s syndrome. We studied the patients at the time of diagnosis (n=88), after 6 months (n=69) and thereafter annually following surgical remission over a period of up to four years (1 year: n=55; 2 years: n=34; 3 years: n=29; 4 years: n=22). Muscle function was evaluated by hand grip strength and by chair rising test Results Grip strength was decreased to 83 % of normal controls (100 %) at time of diagnosis. It further decreased to 71 % after 6 months in remission (p≤0.001) and showed no improvement during further follow-up compared to baseline. Chair rising test performance improved initially (8 seconds at baseline vs 7 seconds after 6 months, p=0.004) but remained at this reduced level thereafter (7 seconds after 3 years vs 5 seconds in controls, p=0.038). In multivariate analysis we identified as predictors for long-term muscle dysfunction age, waist-to-hip-ratio and HbA1c at baseline. Furthermore, muscle strength during follow-up was strongly correlated with quality of life Conclusion This study shows that Cushing’s syndrome associated myopathy does not spontaneously resolve during remission. This calls for action to identify effective interventions to improve muscle dysfunction in this setting

Subclinical Cushing's syndrome is a condition of hypercortisolism in the absence of signs specific of overt cortisol excess, and it is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, fragility fractures, cardiovascular events and mortality. The subclinical Cushing's syndrome is not rare, being estimated to be between 0.2-2 % in the adult population. Despite the huge number of studies that have been published in the recent years, several issues remain controversial for the subclinical Cushing's syndrome screening, diagnosis and treatment. The Altogether to Beat Cushing's syndrome Group was founded in 2012 for bringing together the leading Italian experts in the hypercortisolism-related diseases. This document represents the Altogether to Beat Cushing's syndrome viewpoint regarding the following controversial issues on Subclinical Cushing's syndrome (SCS): (1) Who has to be screened for subclinical Cushing's syndrome? (2) How to screen the populations at risk? (3) How to diagnose subclinical Cushing's syndrome in patients with an adrenal incidentaloma? (4) Which consequence of subclinical Cushing's syndrome has to be searched for? (5) How to address the therapy of choice in AI patients with subclinical Cushing's syndrome? (6) How to follow-up adrenal incidentaloma patients with subclinical Cushing's syndrome surgically or conservatively treated? Notwithstanding the fact that most studies that faced these points may have several biases (e.g., retrospective design, small sample size, different criteria for the subclinical Cushing's syndrome diagnosis), we believe that the literature evidence is sufficient to affirm that the subclinical Cushing's syndrome condition is not harmless and that the currently available diagnostic tools are reliable for identifying the majority of individuals with subclinical Cushing's syndrome.

A phase III study has demonstrated that 6-month pasireotide treatment induced disease control with good safety in 15–26% of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). The aim of the current study was to evaluate the 6-month efficacy and safety of pasireotide treatment according to the real-world evidence. Thirty-two CD patients started pasireotide at the dose of 600 µg twice a day (bid) and with the chance of up-titration to 900 µg bid, or down-titration to 450 or 300 µg bid, on the basis of urinary cortisol (UC) levels or safety. Hormonal, clinical and metabolic parameters were measured at baseline and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up, whereas tumour size was evaluated at baseline and at 6-month follow-up. At baseline, 31 patients had very mild to moderate disease and 1 patient had very severe disease. Five (15.6%) patients discontinued treatment for adverse events; the remaining 27 patients (26 with very mild to moderate disease and 1 with very severe disease), reached 6-month follow-up. Considering the group of patients with very mild to moderate disease, responsiveness, defined by the normalization (<1 the upper limit of normal range, ULN) or near normalization (>1 and ≤1.1 ULN) of UC levels, was registered in 21 patients (full control in 19 and near control in 2), corresponding to 67.7% and 80.8% according to an “intention-to-treat” or “per-protocol” methodological approach, respectively. Weight, body mass index, waist circumference, as well as total and LDL-cholesterol significantly decreased, whereas fasting plasma glucose and glycated haemoglobin significantly increased. Hyperglycaemia was documented in 81.2%, whereas gastrointestinal disturbances in 40.6% of patients. In conclusion, in the real-life clinical practice, pasireotide treatment normalizes or nearly normalizes UC in at least 68% of patients with very mild to moderate disease, with consequent improvement in weight, visceral adiposity and lipid profile, despite the occurrence or deterioration of diabetes in the majority of cases, confirming the usefulness of this treatment in patients with milder disease and without uncontrolled diabetes.

We currently find ourselves in the midst of a global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the highly infectious novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Here, we discuss aspects of SARS-CoV-2 biology and pathology and how these might interact with the circadian clock of the host. We further focus on the severe manifestation of the illness, leading to hospitalization in an intensive care unit. The most common severe complications of COVID-19 relate to clock-regulated human physiology. We speculate on how the pandemic might be used to gain insights on the circadian clock but, more importantly, on how knowledge of the circadian clock might be used to mitigate the disease expression and the clinical course of COVID-19.