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  - Johanssen, Sarah
A1  - Hahner, Stefanie
A1  - Saeger, Wolfgang
A1  - Quinkler, Marcus
A1  - Beuschlein, Felix
A1  - Dralle, Henning
A1  - Haaf, Michaela
A1  - Kroiss, Matthias
A1  - Jurowich, Christian
A1  - Langer, Peter
A1  - Oelkers, Wolfgang
A1  - Spahn, Martin
A1  - Willenberg, Holger S.
A1  - Maeder, Uwe
A1  - Allolio, Bruno
A1  - Fassnacht, Martin
T1  - Deficits in the Management of Patients With Adrenocortical Carcinoma in Germany
N2  - Background: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis. Often, the physicians who first treat patients with ACC have no prior experience with the disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate the quality of medical care for patients with ACC in Germany.
Methods: Data from the German ACC registry were analyzed with regard to the patients’ preoperative diagnostic evaluation, histopathological reporting, and clinical followup. The findings were compared with the recommendations of the European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors (ENSAT).
Results: Data were analyzed from 387 patients who had been given an initial diagnosis of ACC in the years 1998 to 2009. 21% of them underwent no hormonal evaluation before surgery, and 59% underwent an inadequate hormonal evaluation. This exposed the patients to unnecessary perioperative risks and impaired their follow-up. 48% did not undergo CT scanning of the chest, even though the lungs are the most frequent site of metastases of ACC. For 13% of the patients, the diagnosis of ACC was later revised by a reference pathologist. For 11% of the patients, the histopathology report contained no information about resection status, even though this is an important determinant of further treatment and prognosis. Optimal management requires re-staging at three-month intervals, yet some patients underwent re-staging only after a longer delay, or not at all.
Conclusion: We have identified significant deficits in the care of patients with ACC in Germany. We suspect that the situation is similar for other rare diseases. The prerequisite to better care is close and early cooperation of the treating physicians with specialized centers.
Y1  - 2010
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-85897
ER  -