Endocrine Abstracts

Bilateral Adrenal Hyperplasias (BAH) are responsible for approximately 10% of ACTH-independent Cushing syndrome and are classified as either micronodular or macronodular. Whereas Primary Pigmented Nodular Adrenocortical Disease (PPNAD) and isolated Micronodular Adrenal Disease (iMAD) are two types of micronodular hyperplasia, Primary Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia (PMAH) is a macronodular BAH. These tumors are classified differently based on clinical, histological and geneti...

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are rare tumour showing a wide spectrum of clinical behaviours. Therapeutic options available for NET treatment are rarely curative and mostly palliative, as NETs frequently show resistance to pharmacological therapy. Cancers develop in complex tissue environments, which they depend on. Tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) are a major cellular component of the tumour microenvironment. Two polarized state of macrophages are described in literatur...

Illegitimate membrane receptors are known to play a role in cortisol secretion in adrenal adenomas and ACTH-independent macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (AIMAH) causing Cushing’s syndrome. Conversely, illegitimate receptors have never been described in primary pigmented nodular adrenal disease (PPNAD). In the normal adrenal gland, serotonin (5-HT) has been shown to stimulate cortisol secretion through activation of 5-HT receptor type 4 (5-HT4) whereas, in some AIMAH tissu...

The most frequent molecular alteration in adrenocortical tumors (ACT) is the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway that is associated with poor prognosis in adrenocortical carcinoma. Activating β-catenin mutation (p.S31, p.S37, p.S45, T.41) inhibiting its proteosomal degradation by the canonical destruction complex is responsible for its abnormal activation in roughly 30% of ACT. However, the E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1, SIAH1 is able to ubiquitinate β-caten...

ARMC5 is a tumor suppressor gene responsible for 20 to 40% of Primary Bilateral Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia (PBMAH) with a function that remains unclear. Based on pathway analysis from RNAseq results obtained on zebrafish models of transient Armc5 up- and down-regulation, we identified transcriptional alterations of several members of SIRT1 (sirtuin (silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog) 1) signaling in our models and hypothesized that ARM...

Introduction: Alterations of the cAMP signaling pathway are described in adrenal tumors causing Cushing syndrome, specifically mutations in the gene coding for the protein kinase A (PKA) catalytic subunit alpha (PRAKCA) in cortisol producing adenomas (CPA) with overt Cushing syndrome.Materiel and Methods: Eight CPAs without PRKACA mutations were analyzed by whole exome sequencing. Direct sequencing of PRAKCB encoding for the catalytic subunit beta (C&#94...

Introduction: Patients with “mixed” phenotypes are common among patients with multiple endocrine and non-endocrine neoplasias. Their diagnoses do not fit a given pattern making ge netic counseling difficult and testing impossible to guide. Most of these patients end up getting genome-wide studies for the identification of any predisposing genetic defect. We present a rare case of a 57 year old female who presented clinically with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), mesot...

Background and aims: Over 200 000 international adoptions by US families occurred between 1999–2010. Prior studies suggest that the effects of institutionalized care on growth and development may not be fully reversible. The exact mechanisms through which early life stress affect biobehavioral outcomes have yet to be determined, but environmental influences could regulate both biobehavoral outcomes through an effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.<p ...

Introduction: Armadillo-containing repeat protein 5 gene (ARMC5) is a tumor suppressor gene expressed in different human tissues. Inactivating germline and somatic mutations of the gene are involved in the pathogenesis of primary bilateral macronodular adrenocortical hyperplasia (PBMAH). These mutations are mainly met in the familial form of PBMAH and are associated with a more severe Cushing Syndrome, meningiomas and T-cell immune response defects. However, the role of ARMC5 ...

In human adrenals, serotonin (5-HT), released by subcapsular mast cells, increases aldosterone secretion through activation of type 4 serotonin receptors (5-HT4R) but only exerts a modest control on cortisol production. Interestingly, illicit synthesis of 5-HT in adrenocortical cells as well as overexpression of the 5-HT4R and ectopic expression of the type 7 receptor (5-HT7R) have been observed in bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia res...