Usually, insulinomas are small sized, insulin secreting, benign tumors of the pancreas, and require surgical treatment. We report the case of a female patient, of 61 years old, with pancreatic insulinoma localized in the junction between the head and the istm of the pancreas, of 1,4 cm in size, which induced hypoglycemia due to endogenous insulin hypersecretion. The tumor was removed by laparos...

INTRODUCTION Pheochromocytoma is a catecholamine-secreting tumor, which is seen rarely in children. These tumors predominantly secrete norepinephrine and epinephrine. They might be familial and associated with hereditary tumors such as Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome and multiple endocrine neoplasia type II. CASE PRESENTATION The child might present with a spectrum of clinical manifestation includ...

Thymic carcinoid is an extremely rare malignancy. This tumor is often associated with endocrine disorders such as Cushing's syndrome, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 and superior vena cava syndrome. We describe the case of a 44-year-old Italian woman with metastatic atypical thymic carcinoid secreting ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone who was treated with adaptive radiation therapy with a...

Synaptosomal protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25) is important for Ca(2+)-dependent fusion of large dense core vesicles (LDCVs) in insulin-secreting cells. Exocytosis is further enhanced by cAMP-increasing agents such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and this augmentation includes interaction with both PKA and cAMP-GEFII. To investigate the coupling between SNAP-25- and cAMP-dependent stimulation of ...

The role of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the generation of the metabolic signal for insulin secretion was studied after stable overexpression in INS-1 and RINm5F insulin-producing cells. INS-1 cells with a 25-fold overexpression of LDH-A, the highest level achieved, showed a 20-30% decrease in the glucose oxidation rate at glucose concentrations above 5 mM when compared with control cells, wh...

AIMS/INTRODUCTION Recently, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have become available in Japan. It has not yet been clarified what clinical parameters could discriminate DPP-4 inhibitor-effective patients from DPP-4 inhibitor-ineffective patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS We reviewed 33 consecutive patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to Osaka University Hospital for glycemic control. Al...

Incretins, hormones released by the gut after meal ingestion, are essential for maintaining systemic glucose homeostasis by stimulating insulin secretion. The effect of incretins on insulin secretion occurs only at elevated glucose concentrations and is mediated by cAMP signaling, but the mechanism linking glucose metabolism and cAMP action in insulin secretion is unknown. We show here, using a...

Pancreatic beta-cells play a central role in the maintenance glucose homeostasis by secreting insulin, a key hormone that regulates blood glucose levels. Dysfunction of the beta-cells and/or a decrease in the beta-cell mass are associated closely with the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus, a major metabolic disease that is rapidly increasing worldwide. Clarification of the m...