@article{VetrivelZhangEngeletal.2021, author = {Vetrivel, Sharmilee and Zhang, Ru and Engel, Mareen and Altieri, Barbara and Braun, Leah and Osswald, Andrea and Bidlingmaier, Martin and Fassnacht, Martin and Beuschlein, Felix and Reincke, Martin and Chen, Alon and Sbiera, Silviu and Riester, Anna}, title = {Circulating microRNA Expression in Cushing's Syndrome}, series = {Frontiers in Endocrinology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Endocrinology}, issn = {1664-2392}, doi = {10.3389/fendo.2021.620012}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229761}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Context Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a rare disease of endogenous hypercortisolism associated with high morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis and classification of CS is still challenging. Objective Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are minimally invasive diagnostic markers. Our aim was to characterize the circulating miRNA profiles of CS patients and to identify distinct profiles between the two major CS subtypes. Methods We included three groups of patients from the German Cushing's registry: ACTH-independent CS (Cortisol-Producing-Adenoma; CPA), ACTH-dependent pituitary CS (Cushing's Disease; CD), and patients in whom CS had been ruled out (controls). Profiling of miRNAs was performed by next-generation-sequencing (NGS) in serum samples of 15 CS patients (each before and after curative surgery) and 10 controls. Significant miRNAs were first validated by qPCR in the discovery cohort and then in an independent validation cohort of 20 CS patients and 11 controls. Results NGS identified 411 circulating miRNAs. Differential expression of 14 miRNAs were found in the pre- and postoperative groups. qPCR in the discovery cohort validated 5 of the significant miRNAs from the preoperative group analyses. Only, miR-182-5p was found to be significantly upregulated in the CD group of the validation cohort. Comparing all CS samples as a group with the controls did not reveal any significant differences in expression. Outcome In conclusion, our study identified miR-182-5p as a possible biomarker for CD, which has to be validated in a prospective cohort. Furthermore, our results suggest that presence or absence of ACTH might be at least as relevant for miRNA expression as hypercortisolism itself.}, language = {en} } @article{DetomasRitzelNasiKordhishtietal.2022, author = {Detomas, Mario and Ritzel, Katrin and Nasi-Kordhishti, Isabella and Wolfsberger, Stefan and Quinkler, Marcus and Losa, Marco and Tr{\"o}ger, Viola and Kroiss, Matthias and Fassnacht, Martin and Vila, Greisa and Honegger, J{\"u}rgen Bernd and Reincke, Martin and Deutschbein, Timo}, title = {Outcome of CRH stimulation test and overnight 8 mg dexamethasone suppression test in 469 patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome}, series = {Frontiers in Endocrinology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Endocrinology}, issn = {1664-2392}, doi = {10.3389/fendo.2022.955945}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-289450}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Objective To evaluate diagnostic accuracy of the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) stimulation test and the overnight 8 mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST) for the differentiation of Cushing's disease (CD) and ectopic Cushing's syndrome (ECS). Methods Retrospective study in 6 European centers. Inclusion criteria: patients with a) overt adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-dependent Cushing's syndrome at the time of dynamic testing, b) histopathological confirmed tumors and/or c) postoperative biochemical remission and/or adrenal insufficiency. Optimal cut-offs were calculated via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis using CD as reference. Results 469 patients were analyzed [78\% females; median age 43 years (IQR 19)]. CRH test and overnight 8 mg DST were performed in 420 [CD, n=394 (94\%); ECS, n=26 (6\%)] and 237 patients [228 CD (96\%), 9 ECS (4\%)]. Both tests were performed in 205 patients (44\%). The post-CRH \%-increase at 30 minutes of both ACTH (cut-off ≥31\%, sensitivity 83\%, specificity 85\%, AUC 0.81) and cortisol (cut-off ≥12\%, sensitivity 82\%, specificity 89\%, AUC 0.86) discriminated best between CD and ECS. A test duration of >60 minutes did not improve diagnostic performance of the CRH test. The optimal cortisol cut-off for the \%-suppression during the 8 mg DST was ≥55\% (sensitivity 80\%, specificity 78\%, AUC 0.75). Conclusion The CRH test has equivalent sensitivity but higher specificity than the 8 mg DST and is therefore the test of first choice. The diagnostic outcome of ACTH and cortisol is well comparable, however, sampling beyond 60 minutes post-CRH does not provide diagnostic benefits.}, language = {en} } @article{RogowskiLehmannGeroulaPrejbiszetal.2018, author = {Rogowski-Lehmann, Natalie and Geroula, Aikaterini and Prejbisz, Aleksander and Timmers, Henri J. L. M. and Megerle, Felix and Robledo, Mercedes and Fassnacht, Martin and Fliedner, Stephanie M. J. and Reincke, Martin and Stell, Anthony and Januszewicz, Andrzej and Lenders, Jacques W. M. and Eisenhofer, Graeme and Beuschlein, Felix}, title = {Missed clinical clues in patients with pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma discovered by imaging}, series = {Endocrine Connections}, volume = {7}, journal = {Endocrine Connections}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1530/EC-18-0318}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-226481}, pages = {1168-1177}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background: Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) are rare but potentially harmful tumors that can vary in their clinical presentation. Tumors may be found due to signs and symptoms, as part of a hereditary syndrome or following an imaging procedure. Objective: To investigate potential differences in clinical presentation between PPGLs discovered by imaging (iPPGLs), symptomatic cases (sPPGLs) and those diagnosed during follow-up because of earlier disease/known hereditary mutations (fPPGL). Design: Prospective study protocol, which has enrolled patients from six European centers with confirmed PPGLs. Data were analyzed from 235 patients (37 iPPGLs, 36 sPPGLs, 27\% fPPGLs) and compared for tumor volume, biochemical profile, mutation status, presence of metastases and self-reported symptoms. iPPGL patients were diagnosed at a significantly higher age than fPPGLs (P<0.001), found to have larger tumors (P=0.003) and higher metanephrine and normetanephrine levels at diagnosis (P=0.021). Significantly lower than in sPPGL, there was a relevant number of self-reported symptoms in iPPGL (2.9 vs 4.3 symptoms, P< 0.001). In 16.2\% of iPPGL, mutations in susceptibility genes were detected, although this proportion was lower than that in fPPGL (60.9\%) and sPPGL (21.5\%). Patients with PPGLs detected by imaging were older, have higher tumor volume and more excessive hormonal secretion in comparison to those found as part of a surveillance program. Presence of typical symptoms indicates that in a relevant proportion of those patients, the PPGL diagnosis had been delayed. Precis: Pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma discovered by imaging are often symptomatic and carry a significant proportion of germline mutations in susceptibility genes.}, subject = {Biochemical-Diagnosis}, language = {en} } @article{VetrivelZhangEngeletal.2022, author = {Vetrivel, Sharmilee and Zhang, Ru and Engel, Mareen and Oßwald, Andrea and Watts, Deepika and Chen, Alon and Wielockx, Ben and Sbiera, Silviu and Reincke, Martin and Riester, Anna}, title = {Characterization of adrenal miRNA-based dysregulations in Cushing's syndrome}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {14}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23147676}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284394}, year = {2022}, abstract = {MiRNAs are important epigenetic players with tissue- and disease-specific effects. In this study, our aim was to investigate the putative differential expression of miRNAs in adrenal tissues from different forms of Cushing's syndrome (CS). For this, miRNA-based next-generation sequencing was performed in adrenal tissues taken from patients with ACTH-independent cortisol-producing adrenocortical adenomas (CPA), from patients with ACTH-dependent pituitary Cushing's disease (CD) after bilateral adrenalectomy, and from control subjects. A confirmatory QPCR was also performed in adrenals from patients with other CS subtypes, such as primary bilateral macronodular hyperplasia and ectopic CS. Sequencing revealed significant differences in the miRNA profiles of CD and CPA. QPCR revealed the upregulated expression of miR-1247-5p in CPA and PBMAH (log2 fold change > 2.5, p < 0.05). MiR-379-5p was found to be upregulated in PBMAH and CD (log2 fold change > 1.8, p < 0.05). Analyses of miR-1247-5p and miR-379-5p expression in the adrenals of mice which had been exposed to short-term ACTH stimulation showed no influence on the adrenal miRNA expression profiles. For miRNA-specific target prediction, RNA-seq data from the adrenals of CPA, PBMAH, and control samples were analyzed with different bioinformatic platforms. The analyses revealed that both miR-1247-5p and miR-379-5p target specific genes in the WNT signaling pathway. In conclusion, this study identified distinct adrenal miRNAs as being associated with CS subtypes.}, language = {en} } @article{ReelReelErlicetal.2022, author = {Reel, Smarti and Reel, Parminder S. and Erlic, Zoran and Amar, Laurence and Pecori, Alessio and Larsen, Casper K. and Tetti, Martina and Pamporaki, Christina and Prehn, Cornelia and Adamski, Jerzy and Prejbisz, Aleksander and Ceccato, Filippo and Scaroni, Carla and Kroiss, Matthias and Dennedy, Michael C. and Deinum, Jaap and Eisenhofer, Graeme and Langton, Katharina and Mulatero, Paolo and Reincke, Martin and Rossi, Gian Paolo and Lenzini, Livia and Davies, Eleanor and Gimenez-Roqueplo, Anne-Paule and Assi{\´e}, Guillaume and Blanchard, Anne and Zennaro, Maria-Christina and Beuschlein, Felix and Jefferson, Emily R.}, title = {Predicting hypertension subtypes with machine learning using targeted metabolites and their ratios}, series = {Metabolites}, volume = {12}, journal = {Metabolites}, number = {8}, issn = {2218-1989}, doi = {10.3390/metabo12080755}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-286161}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Hypertension is a major global health problem with high prevalence and complex associated health risks. Primary hypertension (PHT) is most common and the reasons behind primary hypertension are largely unknown. Endocrine hypertension (EHT) is another complex form of hypertension with an estimated prevalence varying from 3 to 20\% depending on the population studied. It occurs due to underlying conditions associated with hormonal excess mainly related to adrenal tumours and sub-categorised: primary aldosteronism (PA), Cushing's syndrome (CS), pheochromocytoma or functional paraganglioma (PPGL). Endocrine hypertension is often misdiagnosed as primary hypertension, causing delays in treatment for the underlying condition, reduced quality of life, and costly antihypertensive treatment that is often ineffective. This study systematically used targeted metabolomics and high-throughput machine learning methods to predict the key biomarkers in classifying and distinguishing the various subtypes of endocrine and primary hypertension. The trained models successfully classified CS from PHT and EHT from PHT with 92\% specificity on the test set. The most prominent targeted metabolites and metabolite ratios for hypertension identification for different disease comparisons were C18:1, C18:2, and Orn/Arg. Sex was identified as an important feature in CS vs. PHT classification.}, language = {en} }