Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is an important, potentially curable, cause of hypertension. Distinguishing unilateral and bilateral causes is a critical step in determining who should be considered for adrenalectomy. Adrenal vein sampling (AVS) remains the gold standard for lateralisation. However, AVS is technically challenging with limited availability. To address this, we have introduced molecular imaging using PET/CT with the radiotracer [11C]Metomidate ...

Short synacthen test (SST) is the most widely used dynamic test of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function. It’s simple to conduct but requires nursing time and is relatively costly given 15-fold price increase in synacthen since 2015. We audited our SST use with the aim of reviewing clinical indications for testing and identifying useful predictors of test outcome. Baseline referral, clinical and biochemical data were retrospectively collected for individuals ...

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive malignancy with limited treatment options. We identified polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) as one of the most overexpressed genes and potential drug target in ACC. PLK1 inhibitors (PLK1i) are under evaluation in clinical trials for other malignancies, being more effective in TP53-mutated tumours. Here we test PLK1i efficacy in four ACC cell lines with different genetic background. Efficacy of three PLK1i (i.e. Volaserti...

Control mechanisms of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol (CORT) secretion and metabolism during acute systemic inflammation (e.g. major surgery) have never been clearly elucidated. We sampled blood every 10 minutes for 12 h during and after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in 10 patients to create profiles of ACTH, CORT and inflammatory mediators and compared these to healthy controls. Patients’ ACTH and CORT responses were classified into one of three...