Endocrine Abstracts

Recent molecular studies suggest a role of ectopic G protein coupled receptors in primary aldosteronism (PA). The clinical relevance of these findings is not known. We therefore combined expression profiling and a clinical testing of hormone responsiveness in patients with primary aldosteronism. Sixteen tissues from aldosterone producing adenomas and 6 normal adrenal glands were subjected to a quantitative PCR for determination of mRNA expression levels of AT2R, GIPR, MC2R, Gn...

Overexpression and aberrant activation of the insulin-like growth factor system plays a key role in tumor cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in many human tumors. Different therapies targeting IGF1-receptor (IGF1-R) have been developed and currently, some of these agents are evaluated in preclinical and early clinical trials with promising results. Moreover, recent studies have demonstrated that combined treatments with doxorubicin, enhance the efficiency of anti-IGF1-R ther...

To date, the in depth analysis of the key molecular mechanisms involved in functional autonomy and tumor formation in aldosterone producing adenomas has been hampered by the rarity of the disease and the lack of adequate tumor cell lines. Herein, we cultivated a primary cell culture of an aldosterone producing adenoma taken from a 40 year old male patient with a left sided adrenal tumor mass. The cells have been passaged 24 times and still continue to grow after nearly 11 mont...