Endocrine Abstracts

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an orphan tumor entity the pathogenesis of which is poorly understood. In advanced tumour stages, prognosis is unfavorable, but biomarkers for early diagnosis are lacking. MALDI-Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI-MSI) enables semi-quantitative detection of a broad spectrum of analytes including endogenous cell metabolites in tissue sections. MALDI-MSI was used as a discovery approach to analyse tissue specimens of 72 ACC patients in FFPE tissue ...

In adult mice the adrenal cortex is divided, in two distinct functional zones, outermost zona glomerulosa (ZG) and innermost zona fasciculata (ZF), encapsulated by a thin layer of mesenchymal cells (capsule). The adrenal cortex undergoes constant centripetal cell renewal, reliying on recruitment of progenitors located within an outer cortex niche. Progenitors initially differentiate as ZG cells and undergo lineage conversion to ZF as they move within the cortex. This relies on...

Background: Urinary steroid metabolite profiling is an accurate reflection of adrenal and gonadal steroid output and metabolism in peripheral target cells of steroid action. Measurement of steroid metabolite excretion by gas chromatography-–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) is considered reference standard for biochemical diagnosis of steroidogenic disorders. However, performance of GC–MS analysis and interpretation of the resulting data requires significant expertise a...

Pheochromocytoma is a rare disease but frequently poses a diagnostic dilemma due to the unspecific symptoms and its potentially life-threatening nature. There is a perception of an increase in the incidence of pheocromocytomas in recent years, but no data on time trends exist. We obtained data from The Danish National Registry of Patients, The Danish Registry of Causes of Death, and The National Pathology Registry for all persons registered with pheochromocytoma in 1977–2...

Background: Confirmatory tests, including saline infusion test (SIT), captopril challenge test (CCT) and fludrocortisone suppression test (FST) are commonly used for diagnosis of primary aldosteronism (PA). Each test has its advantages and disadvantages, but which one should be preferentially performed is controversial. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of three tests in a prospective study.Methods: Five hundred and thirty-one hypertensive pat...