Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: We report the largest case series of concomitant prolactinoma and aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), diagnosed in four patients from the German Conn Registry and in three patients at the Hypertension Unit, University of Torino. A disproportionate number (five out of seven) presented with macro-prolactinomas indicating that elevated prolactin (PRL) concentrations may play a role in APA formation. Further, increased expression of PRLR in the zona glomeru...

Recently, we demonstrated for adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) promising antitumoural effects for LEDP-M (etoposide, liposomal doxorubicin, liposomal cisplatin, mitotane) a novel liposomal variant of the classical EDP-M protocol (etoposide, doxorubicin, cisplatin, mitotane). However, clinical translation of novel therapeutic regimens remains challenging due to high tumor heterogeneity. Thus, to obtain preclinical results with more clinically predictive power we investigated for ...

Only two human cell lines are available for adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) which do not reflect the functional heterogeneity of individual patient tumors and metastases. To overcome the lack of preclinical models for testing of novel therapeutic options in recent years we aimed at the development of patient-individual tumor models for endocrine tumors. Therefore, pieces of surgically excised patient tumors were implanted subcutaneously in the neck of athymic nude mice. To inve...

The cardiovascular outcome of targeted treatment of primary aldosteronism (PA) has not been prospectively studied in large cohorts. Using the data of the prospective German Conn’s registry we evaluated the effect of adrenalectomy (ADX) vs mineralocorticoid-receptor-antagonists (MRA) treatment on blood pressure (BP), serum potassium, eGFR, pro-BNP, number and WHO DDD of antihypertensive drugs. Since 2008, 181 patients have been newly diagnosed with PA and underwent subtype...

Background: Identifying hypertensive patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) using the aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR) is crucial for optimizing their treatment. Various medications used to treat hypertension are known to alter levels of aldosterone and renin, thus affecting the ARR. As withdrawing all medication before screening is often unrealistic, we aimed to determine the degree of interference of some commonly used agents on the ARR using assays on the automated IDS-iS...

ASA404 (Vadimezan) belongs to a class of agents with disrupting properties against tumor vasculature. Herein, putative therapeutic applicability was investigated in preclinical models for neuroendocrine tumors of the gastroenteropancreatic system (BON) and adrenocortical carcinoma (NCIh295). Upon treatment of tumor bearing mice we detected a significant disruption of microvessels, decrease in cell proliferation, increase of apoptotic cells and extensive necrosis in BON tumors ...

Scattered case reports have described patients who have been diagnosed with both primary hyperaldosteronism and prolactinoma. Prolactin receptor (PRLR) is known to be expressed in human adrenal cortex. Furthermore, PRLR mRNA and protein have both been detected in human adrenal tumors. It has also been shown that PRL treatment of adrenal cells is capable of stimulating aldosterone secretion. The contribution of PRL to the development of hyperaldosteronism is u...

Objective: Aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA) are a major cause of primary aldosteronism. Somatic mutations explain the excess aldosterone production in the majority of patients with APA with mutations in KCNJ5 encoding a potassium channel the most prevalent in most reported populations. Mechanisms driving cell proliferation are largely undefined.Design and method: Quantitative transcriptome analysis using RNA-seq was used to identify differen...

Adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is a technically demanding procedure required for identification of suitable candidates for unilateral adrenalectomy in primary aldosteronism. Recently, somatic mutations in aldosterone producing adenomas (APA) have become a focus of research. We identified KCNJ5 K+-channel mutations in 34% of APAs, and more recently mutations in 2 ATPase family members in 11 and 6%. However, it is unclear whether steroid gradients during the AVS are infl...

Context: Primary aldosteronism (PA) represents the most frequent cause of a curable secondary arterial hypertension. Conflicting data have been published regarding the effect of aldosterone excess on glucose and lipid metabolism.Objective: Our aim was to analyze insulin sensitivity and beta cell function in a cohort of PA patients. Prospective follow-up investigations were performed in a subgroup of patients before and after adrenalectomy to assess the m...