TY - JOUR A1 - Koehler, Viktoria Florentine A1 - Adam, Pia A1 - Fuss, Carmina Teresa A1 - Jiang, Linmiao A1 - Berg, Elke A1 - Frank-Raue, Karin A1 - Raue, Friedhelm A1 - Hoster, Eva A1 - Knösel, Thomas A1 - Schildhaus, Hans-Ulrich A1 - Negele, Thomas A1 - Siebolts, Udo A1 - Lorenz, Kerstin A1 - Allelein, Stephanie A1 - Schott, Matthias A1 - Spitzweg, Christine A1 - Kroiss, Matthias T1 - Treatment of RET-positive advanced medullary thyroid cancer with multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors — a retrospective multi-center registry analysis JF - Cancers N2 - Background: RET (rearranged during transfection) variants are the most prevalent oncogenic events in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). In advanced disease, multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (MKIs) cabozantinib and vandetanib are the approved standard treatment irrespective of RET status. The actual outcome of patients with RET-positive MTC treated with MKIs is ill described. Methods: We here retrospectively determined the RET oncogene variant status with a targeted DNA Custom Panel in a prospectively collected cohort of 48 patients with advanced MTC treated with vandetanib and/or cabozantinib at four German referral centers. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) probabilities were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: In total, 44/48 (92%) patients had germline or somatic RET variants. The M918T variant was found in 29/44 (66%) cases. In total, 2/32 (6%) patients with a somatic RET variant had further somatic variants, while in 1/32 (3%) patient with a germline RET variant, additional variants were found. Only 1/48 (2%) patient had a pathogenic HRAS variant, and no variants were found in 3 cases. In first-line treatment, the median OS was 53 (95% CI (95% confidence interval), 32–NR (not reached); n = 36), and the median PFS was 21 months (12–39; n = 33) in RET-positive MTC patients. In second-line treatment, the median OS was 18 (13–79; n = 22), and the median PFS was 3.5 months (2–14; n = 22) in RET-positive cases. Conclusions: RET variants were highly prevalent in patients with advanced MTC. The treatment results in RET-positive cases were similar to those reported in unselected cohorts. KW - medullary thyroid cancer KW - rearranged during transfection KW - variant KW - multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor KW - survival KW - treatment outcome Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281776 SN - 2072-6694 VL - 14 IS - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuss, Carmina Teresa A1 - Other, Katharina A1 - Heinze, Britta A1 - Landwehr, Laura-Sophie A1 - Wiegering, Armin A1 - Kalogirou, Charis A1 - Hahner, Stefanie A1 - Fassnacht, Martin T1 - Expression of the chemokine receptor CCR7 in the normal adrenal gland and adrenal tumors and its correlation with clinical outcome in adrenocortical carcinoma JF - Cancers N2 - Background: The chemokine receptor CCR7 is crucial for an intact immune function, but its expression is also associated with clinical outcome in several malignancies. No data exist on the expression of CCR7 in adrenocortical tumors. Methods: CCR7 expression was investigated by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry in 4 normal adrenal glands, 59 adrenocortical adenomas, and 181 adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) samples. Results: CCR7 is highly expressed in the outer adrenocortical zones and medulla. Aldosterone-producing adenomas showed lower CCR7 protein levels (H-score 1.3 ± 1.0) compared to non-functioning (2.4 ± 0.5) and cortisol-producing adenomas (2.3 ± 0.6), whereas protein expression was variable in ACC (1.8 ± 0.8). In ACC, CCR7 protein expression was significantly higher in lymph node metastases (2.5 ± 0.5) compared to primary tumors (1.8±0.8) or distant metastases (2.0 ± 0.4; p < 0.01). mRNA levels of CCR7 were not significantly different between ACCs, normal adrenals, and adrenocortical adenomas. In contrast to other tumor entities, neither CCR7 protein nor mRNA expression significantly impacted patients' survival. Conclusion: We show that CCR7 is expressed on mRNA and protein level across normal adrenals, benign adrenocortical tumors, as well as ACCs. Given that CCR7 did not influence survival in ACC, it is probably not involved in tumor progression, but it could play a role in adrenocortical homeostasis. KW - CCR7 KW - chemokine receptor KW - adrenocortical carcinoma KW - adrenal tumors Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-250112 SN - 2072-6694 VL - 13 IS - 22 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lenschow, Christina A1 - Fuss, Carmina Teresa A1 - Kircher, Stefan A1 - Buck, Andreas A1 - Kickuth, Ralph A1 - Reibetanz, Joachim A1 - Wiegering, Armin A1 - Stenzinger, Albrecht A1 - Hübschmann, Daniel A1 - Germer, Christoph Thomas A1 - Fassnacht, Martin A1 - Fröhling, Stefan A1 - Schlegel, Nicolas A1 - Kroiss, Matthias T1 - Case Report: Abdominal Lymph Node Metastases of Parathyroid Carcinoma: Diagnostic Workup, Molecular Diagnosis, and Clinical Management JF - Frontiers in Endocrinology N2 - Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) is an orphan malignancy accounting for only ~1% of all cases with primary hyperparathyroidism. The localization of recurrent PC is of critical importance and can be exceedingly difficult to diagnose and sometimes futile when common sites of recurrence in the neck and chest cannot be confirmed. Here, we present the diagnostic workup, molecular analysis and multimodal therapy of a 46-year old woman with the extraordinary manifestation of abdominal lymph node metastases 12 years after primary diagnosis of PC. The patient was referred to our endocrine tumor center in 2016 with the aim to localize the tumor causative of symptomatic biochemical recurrence. In view of the extensive previous workup we decided to perform [18F]FDG-PET-CT. A pathological lymph node in the liver hilus showed slightly increased FDG-uptake and hence was suspected as site of recurrence. Selective venous sampling confirmed increased parathyroid hormone concentration in liver veins. Abdominal lymph node metastasis was resected and histopathological examination confirmed PC. Within four months, the patient experienced biochemical recurrence and based on high tumor mutational burden detected in the surgical specimen by whole exome sequencing the patient received immunotherapy with pembrolizumab that led to a biochemical response. Subsequent to disease progression repeated abdominal lymph node resection was performed in 10/2018, 01/2019 and in 01/2020. Up to now (12/2020) the patient is biochemically free of disease. In conclusion, a multimodal diagnostic approach and therapy in an interdisciplinary setting is needed for patients with rare endocrine tumors. Molecular analyses may inform additional treatment options including checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab. KW - parathyroid carcinoma KW - abdominal lymph node metastases KW - molecular diagnostics KW - repeated surgery KW - [18F]FDG-PET-CT KW - immune check inhibitor KW - pembrolizumab Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-233362 SN - 1664-2392 VL - 12 ER -