Endocrine Abstracts

Adrenal crisis (AC) is a life threatening condition in chronic adrenal insufficiency (AI). Furthermore, recent data demonstrate increased mortality in this patient group.Incidence and causes of adrenal crisis as well as general morbidity and hospitalization was assessed in 472 patients in a prospective trial. Patients were contacted via mail every 6 months and in case of AC additionally by phone to evaluate the exact circumstances of AC. Criteria for AC ...

Introduction: Chemokines and their receptors (CR) have been demonstrated to be involved in tumour growth and site specific metastasis. Furthermore, several cytokines have been described to modulate adrenocortical function. Therefore, we have investigated the expression pattern and functional activity of chemokine receptors and of corresponding chemokines in adrenocortical tissue.Methods: Chemokine and CR expression was assessed by RT-PCR in normal adrena...

Subject: Inhibitors of CYP11B enzymes, particularly of aldosterone synthase, are currently under development as adrenostatic agents in heart failure or hyperaldosteronism, and for use in adrenal imaging. As CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 show high homology, analysis of specific binding to the respective human enzymes is of key importance.Methods: Y1 cell lines stably expressing hsCYP11B1 or hsCYP11B2 were established. Primary cultures of porcine and human adrenocor...

Background: Adrenal masses are discovered in 5% of abdominal imaging scans. Work-up aims at exclusion of malignancy and hormone excess. However, estimates of these risks derive from retrospective studies only, mostly small and with significant selection bias.Methods: Prospective multi-centre study (2011–2016) in 14 centres (11 countries) of the European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumours (ENSAT) with prospective consecutive enrolment of patien...

Background: Adrenal masses are discovered in 5% of cross-sectional abdominal imaging scans. Work-up aims at exclusion of malignancy and hormone excess. However, estimates of these risks presently derive from retrospective studies only, mostly small and with significant selection bias.Methods: Prospective multi-centre study (2011–2016) in 21 centres (17 countries) of the European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumours (ENSAT) with consecutive enrol...

Context: Differentiating adrenocortical adenoma (ACA) from adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) represents a continuous challenge in patients with (often incidentally discovered) adrenal masses, with unfavorable sensitivities and specificities provided by tumor size, imaging and even histology. We have previously developed urine steroid metabolomics as a tool for the detection of adrenal malignancy employing gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the detection of 32 distin...

Context: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of secondary hypertension. Aldosterone excess can cause oxidative stress and respectively DNA damage in vitro and in vivo and increased levels of oxidative stress have been demonstrated in PA patients. Single case reports describe a coincidence of PA with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and other tumours. However, so far no data on the prevalence of benign and malignant neoplasms in patients with PA exis...

Objective: Patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI) have been found to have increased cardiovascular morbidity, partly associated with nonphysiologic glucocorticoid replacement.Design: We included two separate cohorts (cohort 1 and 2) of patients with chronic primary and secondary AI under standard replacement therapy and compared them to two age- and sex-matched population-based studies (SHIP-TREND/DEGS). Patient cohort 1 comprised 389 individuals asses...

Introduction: The regular diagnostic workup for primary aldosteronism (PA) can be very demanding and involves multiple invasive as well as time and cost intensive diagnostic tests. Here we have explored the value of urinary steroid metabolome analysis in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of PA. Previously, urinary 3α,5β-tetrahydroaldosterone (THAldo) has been suggested as a reliable screening test for PA and serum 18-oxocortisol and 18-hydroxycortisol have bee...

Introduction: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive malignancy with a high rate of recurrence. Regular post-operative follow-up imaging is necessary, but associated with high radiation exposure and frequent diagnostic ambiguity. Urine steroid metabolomics has recently been introduced as a novel diagnostic tool for the detection of adrenocortical malignancy in patients with adrenal incidentalomas. Here we present the first clinical study assessing the performance of t...