The mechanisms of tumorigenesis of adrenocortical neoplasms have not been elucidated as yet. However, loss of heterozygosity at chromosomal locus 17p has been consistently observed in adrenocortical cancer. p53 is a recessive tumor suppressor gene located on chromosome 17p. Mutations in the p53 gene play an important role in the tumorigenesis of diverse types of human neoplasms including breast...

The recovery of adrenocortical function during long-term corticosteroid treatment in a group of patients with asthmatic bronchitis was compared with that in a group of patients with sarcoidosis. At corresponding dosages of prednisone basal adrenocortical function as well as adrenocortical response to tetracosactrin stimulation was higher in the asthma patients than in those with sarcoidosis.The...

INTRODUCTION Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare malignancy with a poor prognosis and presents with mass effects and less often with signs of hormone excess (approximately 60% of all adrenocortical carcinoma's). Hormonally active adrenocortical carcinomas most commonly secrete cortisol while the co-secretion of multiple steroid hormones is rare. CASE PRESENTATION We report the case of a 59 yea...

Since it is possible that adrenocortical hormones may be implicated in the regulation of calcium metabolism (see Hollinger and Pattee, 1956, for references) we considered that it would be of interest to gain some knowledge of the adrenocortical function of patients with idiopathic hypercalcaemia of infancy. We have investigated two such patients, one having a severe hypercalcaemic syndrome simi...

While the mechanisms of tumorigenesis for adrenocortical neoplasms remain unknown, several genes, such as Gsa, ACTH receptor (MC2-R), p53, and p16 tumor suppressor genes, are considered to be candidates for adrenocortical neoplasms. Mutation analysis studies have documented these genes in adrenocortical neoplasms, but these studies focused on the mutation of only one of these genes. In the pres...

Adrenocortical tumors (ACT) include both adrenocortical adenomas (ACA) and adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC). Carcinomas are rare in children and adolescents. In the United States, Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data from the National Cancer Institute show that the proportion of adrenocortical tumors (ACT) in childhood carcinoma is only about 1.3%, and the proportion of ACT in c...

To gain insight into the pathogenesis of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and whether there is progression from normal-to-adenoma-to-carcinoma, we performed genome-wide gene expression, gene methylation, microRNA expression and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis in human adrenocortical tissue (normal, adrenocortical adenomas and ACC) samples. A pairwise comparison of normal, adrenoc...

We herein present a 60-year-old man with adrenocortical carcinoma who had gynecomastia. An endocrinological examination revealed increased levels of serum estradiol and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) and reduced levels of free testosterone. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an adrenal tumor with heterogeneous intensity. Iodine-131 adosterol scintigraphy showed an increased uptake at th...

We present two cases of adrenocortical oncocytomas that were well-delineated on multi-detector computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The images showed a well-enhanced large mass with multiple stippled calcifications in a 10-yr-old girl who was consulted due to precocious puberty. A well-enhanced solid mass with necrotic components was incidentally noticed in a 54-yr-old man. These...

Endogenous cannabinoids are important signaling molecules in neuroendocrine control of homeostatic and reproductive functions including stress response and energy metabolism. The hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei have been shown to release endocannabinoids, which act as retrograde messengers to modulate the synaptic release of glutamate during stress response. This study endeav...