Context: Bone turnover is increased in acromegaly. Despite normalization of bone turnover after treatment, the risk for vertebral fractures remains increased. Gonadal status, but not BMD, is correlated with vertebral fractures. Trabecular bone score (TBS) is related to bone microarchitecture. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the longitudinal change in TBS and BMD following treatment for acromegaly. Results: Following treatment, the mean TBS decreased by 3.0 (±7.0) %, whereas the BMD at the lumbar spine (LS) increased by 3.2 (±4.9) % (both P < 0.01). The changes in BMD LS and TBS were not correlated (P = 0.87). The TBS change was found to be −4.5 % (±6.7; P = 0.003) in men and −0.3 % (±6.8; P = 0.85) in women (P = 0.063 for interaction men vs women). The mean BMD LS increased in men +4.2 g/cm 2 (±4.3; P < 0.001), but not in women +1.5 g/ cm 2 (±5.6; P = 0.36); (P = 0.073 for interaction). BMD increased in the ultradistal radius and total body (both P < 0.01).The increase in BMD LS was associated with a decrease in P1NP and CTX-1 (P < 0.001) and with lower P1NP and CTX-1 at the follow-up (P < 0.02). Conclusion: Treatment of acromegaly affects TBS and BMD at LS in different manners. The reduction of bone turnover markers predicts the increase in BMD but not the decrease in TBS. The DXA changes were more pronounced in men. Alterations in trabecular bone architecture may explain the persistent fracture risk despite the increase in BMD after disease control.

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Acromegaly is a rare and challenging disease calling for management in highly specialised multidisciplinary teams (MDTs). Untreated disease has severe morbidity and a clearly increased mortality. Major attainments have been gained over the latest decades, and therefore, the aim of this review is to discuss recent achievements in modern multimodal therapy of acromegaly performed by MDTs, with an emphasis on an individualised, proactive management from the time of diagnosis to long-term outcome. Treatment by surgery is the only potential curative treatment, however, even with modern techniques still with modest cure rates, leaving the patients to often long-term medical treatment. Treatment strategies have changed dramatically in the Western world over recent years, implying a more proactive treatment algorithm often with a shorter or longer pre-surgical treatment period with somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs). Not all patients will however respond to primary treatment with conventional SRLs and there has recently been a development of potential biomarkers for response that has been implemented in the clinical routine. By today, multimodal treatment can bring every patient in remission, but still almost a third of all patients are undertreated according to large, international registries. On the other hand, it might be a challenge not to over treat thereby bringing the patient into a state of relative or absolute growth hormone deficiency. Clinical series published during the last decade on treatment of patients with acromegaly have indicated a normalisation of mortality, most probably reflecting the proactive and individualised modern treatment. In conclusion, modern, multimodal treatment seems to have normalised mortality, but still the patients suffer from a high multi-organ morbidity and often multipharmacy. Every patient should receive an individualised, proactive treatment in order to improve long-term outcome and to reduce costs for the society.Correspondence should be addressed to J Bollerslev . His special interest is within clinical and translational endocrinology, and in particular, in classical endocrine diseases, such as acromegaly and Cushing's, often studying bone as target tissues for clinical activity. A major topic has been clinical management of acromegaly, and especially searching for biomarkers for responsiveness to medical therapy. Prospectively collected data of newly diagnosed patients with acromegaly has been the background for current studies of individualised, multimodal and transdisciplinary treatment. European Journal of Endocrinology 181:2 R60 Review J Bollerslev and others Managing acromegaly https://eje.bioscientifica.com European Journal of Endocrinology 181:2 R61 Review J Bollerslev and others Managing acromegaly https://eje.bioscientifica.com European Journal of Endocrinology 181:2 R63 Review J Bollerslev and others Managing acromegaly https://eje.bioscientifica.com European Journal of Endocrinology 181:2 R64 Review J Bollerslev and others Managing acromegaly https://eje.bioscie...

Growth hormone (GH) influences adipocyte differentiation, but both stimulatory and inhibitory effects have been described. Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSC) are multipotent, able to differentiate into adipocytes, among other cells. Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling activation impairs adipogenesis. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of GH on AT-MSC adipogenesis using cells isolated from male GH receptor gene knockout (GHRKO), bovine GH transgenic (bGH) and wild-type littermate control (WT) mice. AT-MSC from subcutaneous (sc), epididiymal (epi), and mesenteric (mes) AT depots were identified and isolated by flow cytometry (PDGFRα+Sca-1+CD45−Ter119− cells). Their in vitro adipogenic differentiation capacity was determined by cell morphology and real-time RT-PCR. Using identical in vitro conditions, adipogenic differentiation of AT-MSC was only achieved in the sc depot, but not in epi and mes depots. Notably, we observed an increased differentiation in cells isolated from sc-GHRKO and an impaired differentiation of sc-bGH cells compared with sc-WT cells. Axin-2, a marker of Wnt/β-catenin activation, was increased in mature sc-bGH adipocytes suggesting that activation of this pathway may be responsible for the decreased adipogenesis. Thus, we demonstrate that 1) adipose tissue in mice has a well-defined population of Sca-1+PDGFRα+ MSC cells; 2) the differentiation capacity of AT-MSC varies from depot to depot regardless of GH genotype; 3) the lack of GH action increases adipogenesis in sc depot; and 4) activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway might mediate the GH effect on AT-MSC. Taken together, our results suggest that GH diminishes fat mass, in part, by altering adipogenesis of MSC.