Volume 12 Issue 6, June 2016

A new study shows that hyperthyroidism is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer compared with the general population. By contrast, hypothyroidism is associated with a slightly decreased risk of breast cancer. With this knowledge, what are the implications for clinical practice and further research?

One of the most promising new approaches currently in clinical trials for postmenopausal osteoporosis is the promotion of bone formation by antibodies directed against the Wnt inhibitor, sclerostin. A new study by Wehmeyer and colleagues suggests that this approach might have a pro-inflammatory effect in patients with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-dependent rheumatoid arthritis.

Rapid, minimally invasive control of explicit neural activity would be a major advance for basic and clinical research in the neuroscience and neuroendocrinology fields, and could have applications for the potential treatment of neurological disorders. A new study by Stanley et al. brings us closer to this goal.

Improvements in the treatment of childhood cancers mean that most patients now survive to adulthood and are at increased risk of developing endocrine disorders. In this Review, Susan Rose and colleagues provide an overview of the late endocrine effects that can occur in these patients and outline recommendations for surveillance, diagnosis and management.

Pharmacogenomics, the study of how genes influence drug response, has become an increasingly important technique in modern drug discovery. In this Review, Zhou and colleagues discuss the role of pharmacogenomics in the variability of antidiabetic drug action and how this knowledge can be used to target treatment and guide future drug development.

Differential diagnosis between pseudohypoparathyroidism and related disorders of disrupted G_sα–cAMP signalling is a challenge for endocrinologists due to shared clinical and molecular characteristics. Here, Giovanna Mantovani and colleagues discuss both the current understanding and future challenges for the clinical and molecular diagnosis, classification and treatment of pseudohypoparathyroidism and related disorders.

Noncommunicable diseases are an increasing problem in low-income and middle-income countries undergoing rapid economic development. Here, Unnikrishnan, Anjana and Mohan describe the characteristics and epidemiology of diabetes mellitus in India, and how their experiences can help clinicians treating this disease in other rapidly developing countries.