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Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas

Autonomous steroid secretion is a common feature of adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC), although not always clinically evident owing to inefficient steroidogenesis with increased release of steroid precursors. Our study aim was to analyze the expression profile of four key proteins involved in the ster...

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Autores principales: Pereira, Sofia S., Costa, Madalena M., Gomez-Sanchez, Celso E., Monteiro, Mariana P., Pignatelli, Duarte
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7460193/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32751564
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8080256
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author Pereira, Sofia S.
Costa, Madalena M.
Gomez-Sanchez, Celso E.
Monteiro, Mariana P.
Pignatelli, Duarte
author_facet Pereira, Sofia S.
Costa, Madalena M.
Gomez-Sanchez, Celso E.
Monteiro, Mariana P.
Pignatelli, Duarte
author_sort Pereira, Sofia S.
collection PubMed
description Autonomous steroid secretion is a common feature of adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC), although not always clinically evident owing to inefficient steroidogenesis with increased release of steroid precursors. Our study aim was to analyze the expression profile of four key proteins involved in the steroidogenesis cascade, in different adrenocortical tumors. Expression of proteins involved in steroidogenesis, namely steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), 11β-hydroxylase (CYP11B1), aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and 17α-hydroxylase (CYP17A1), were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in ACC (n = 14), adenomas presenting with Cushing’s syndrome (ACAc) (n = 11) and clinically non-functioning adenomas (ACAn) (n = 15). A percentage of the stained area for each protein was analyzed using ImageJ software for computerized morphometric quantification. CYP11B1, StAR and CYP17A1 expression were significantly lower in ACC when compared to ACAc. In addition, ACC presented co-staining cells for CYP11B1 and CYP11B2. CYP11B1 was the steroidogenic enzyme with the most discriminative power to distinguish ACC from ACAc, with a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 92%, and an expression higher than 4.44%, indicating the presence of a cortisol secreting adenoma. ACC depicts an incomplete pattern of steroidogenic protein expression, with decreased CYP11B1 and CYP17A1, which could explain the predominant secretion of steroid precursors.
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spelling pubmed-74601932020-09-02 Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas Pereira, Sofia S. Costa, Madalena M. Gomez-Sanchez, Celso E. Monteiro, Mariana P. Pignatelli, Duarte Biomedicines Article Autonomous steroid secretion is a common feature of adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC), although not always clinically evident owing to inefficient steroidogenesis with increased release of steroid precursors. Our study aim was to analyze the expression profile of four key proteins involved in the steroidogenesis cascade, in different adrenocortical tumors. Expression of proteins involved in steroidogenesis, namely steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), 11β-hydroxylase (CYP11B1), aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and 17α-hydroxylase (CYP17A1), were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in ACC (n = 14), adenomas presenting with Cushing’s syndrome (ACAc) (n = 11) and clinically non-functioning adenomas (ACAn) (n = 15). A percentage of the stained area for each protein was analyzed using ImageJ software for computerized morphometric quantification. CYP11B1, StAR and CYP17A1 expression were significantly lower in ACC when compared to ACAc. In addition, ACC presented co-staining cells for CYP11B1 and CYP11B2. CYP11B1 was the steroidogenic enzyme with the most discriminative power to distinguish ACC from ACAc, with a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 92%, and an expression higher than 4.44%, indicating the presence of a cortisol secreting adenoma. ACC depicts an incomplete pattern of steroidogenic protein expression, with decreased CYP11B1 and CYP17A1, which could explain the predominant secretion of steroid precursors. MDPI 2020-07-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7460193/ /pubmed/32751564 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8080256 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Pereira, Sofia S.
Costa, Madalena M.
Gomez-Sanchez, Celso E.
Monteiro, Mariana P.
Pignatelli, Duarte
Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas
title Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas
title_full Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas
title_fullStr Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas
title_full_unstemmed Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas
title_short Incomplete Pattern of Steroidogenic Protein Expression in Functioning Adrenocortical Carcinomas
title_sort incomplete pattern of steroidogenic protein expression in functioning adrenocortical carcinomas
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7460193/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32751564
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8080256
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