TY - THES A1 - Fuß, Carmina Teresa T1 - Erfassung der Strahlenbelastung des Nebennierenvenenkatheters und Evaluation des Chemokinrezeptors CXCR4 als neues Target in der Differentialdiagnostik des primären Hyperaldosteronismus T1 - Assessment of radiation exposure of adrenal vein sampling and evaluation of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 as novel target in the differential diagnosis of primary aldosteronism N2 - Der primäre Hyperaldosteronismus stellt mit einer Prävalenz von 5 - 12% die häufigste endokrine Ursache einer sekundären Hypertonie da. Der Aldosteronexzess beruht in den meisten Fällen auf einer bilateralen Nebennierenhyperplasie, oder einem unilateralen Aldosteron-produzieren Adenom. Die Unterscheidung dieser beiden Entitäten ist zur weiteren Therapieplanung essentiell: Während ein unilaterales Aldosteron-produzierendes Adenom operativ entfernt wird, erhalten Patienten mit bilateraler Nebennierenhyperplasie eine lebenslange medikamentöse Therapie mit Mineralocorticoidantagonisten. Der selektive Nebennierenvenenkatheter stellt den aktuellen Referenzstandard zur Subtypendifferenzierung bei Patienten mit primärem Hyperaldosteronismus dar. Dieser ist allerdings mit zahlreichen Nachteilen, wie beispielsweise hoher Untersucherabhängigkeit und fehlender Standardisierung, behaftet. Die Strahlenbelastung des Nebennierenvenenkatheters wurde bis dato nicht systematisch analysiert. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit wurde daher im Rahmen einer retrospektiven Studie die Strahlenbelastung des Nebennierenvenenkatheters (n=656) an vier deutschen Zentren zwischen 1999 und 2017 untersucht. Primäre Endpunkte waren das Dosisflächenprodukt, die Durchleuchtungszeit und die kalkulierte effektive Dosis. Das mediane Dosisflächenprodukt lag bei 32,5 Gy*cm², die Durchleuchtungszeit bei 18 min, die berechnete effektive Dosis bei 6,4 mSv. Die Strahlenbelastung zeigte allerdings deutliche interinstitutionelle Unterschiede. Hauptursachen hierfür lagen in zentrumsabhängigen Unterschieden in den Untersuchungsmodalitäten, insbesondere der Anzahl an Entnahmestellen und der Verwendung von digitalen Subtraktionsangiographien. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit widmet sich der Evaluation des Chemokinrezeptors CXCR4 als neues Target in der Differentialdiagnostik des primären Hyperaldosteronismus. Mittels quantitativer real-time PCR und Immunohistochemie konnte eine hohe Expression von CXCR4 in den äußeren Schichten der Nebennierenrinde, der anhängenden Nebenniere benigner Nebennierentumore, sowie in Aldosteron-produzierenden Adenomen beobachtet werden. Ebenso zeigte sich eine Korrelation der CXCR4-Expression mit der Expression von CYP11B2 (Aldosteron-Synthase). Dem entgegengesetzt, war eine fehlende bzw. signifikant niedrige CXCR4-Expression in endokrin inaktiven Nebennierenadenomen nachweisbar. In autoradiographischen Bindungsstudien zeigte der CXCR4-spezifische PET-Tracer 68Ga-Pentixafor eine deutliche und spezifische Bindung an Kryogewebe von Aldosteron-produzierenden Adenomen. Im Anschluss wurden 9 Patienten mit primärem Hyperaldosteronismus mittels 68Ga-Pentixafor-PET/CT untersucht. Der Tracer-Uptake war signifikant höher in Aldosteron-produzierenden Adenomen im Vergleich zu Nebennieren von Patienten, die aufgrund anderer Grunderkrankungen eine 68Ga-Pentixafor-Bildgebung erhalten hatten. Somit stellt eine CXCR4-spezifische Bildgebung eine vielversprechende Möglichkeit zur nicht-invasiven Charakterisierung von Nebennierenraumforderungen bei primärem Hyperaldosteronismus dar. N2 - Primary aldosteronism represents the most common endocrine form of secondary hypertension with a prevalence of 5-12%. In most cases, aldosterone excess is caused either by a bilateral hyperplasia of the adrenal glands, or a unilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma. Differentiation between those subtypes is essential due to differences in clinical management: whereas aldosterone-producing adenomas are removed surgically, patients with bilateral adrenal hyperplasia receive life-long treatment with mineralocorticoid antagonists. Adrenal vein sampling represents the current reference standard for subtype differentiation in primary aldosteronism. However, adrenal vein sampling is associated with several drawbacks, e.g. its success is highly depends on the expertise of the performing radiologist. Until now, the radiation exposure has never been assessed. In this retrospective study radiation exposure of adrenal vein sampling was assessed at four german tertiary care centers between 1999 and 2017. The primary outcomes were dose area product (DAP) and fluoroscopy time (FT). Consecutively the effective dose (ED) was approximately calculated. Median DAP was found to be 32.5 Gy*cm2 and FT 18 min. The calculated ED was 6.4 mSv. Remarkably, values between participating centers highly varied. As main reason for this variation, differences regarding AVS protocols between centers could be identified, such as number of sampling locations, frames per second and the use of digital subtraction angiographies. The second part of this work focuses on the evaluation of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 as a potential target in the differential diagnosis of primary aldosteronism. When investigating the expression pattern of chemokine receptors by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, high expression of CXCR4 (CXC chemokine receptor type 4) in the outer layers of normal adrenals and in aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA) could be observed. In contrast, the CXCR4-expression was significantly lower in non-functioning adenomas. The specific CXCR4 ligand 68Ga-pentixafor showed strong binding to cryosections of aldosterone-producing adenomas. We further investigated 9 patients with primary aldosteronism because of aldosterone-producing adenomas by 68Ga-pentixafor-positron emission tomography. The tracer uptake was significantly higher on the side of increased adrenocortical aldosterone secretion in patients with aldosterone-producing adenomas compared with patients investigated by 68Ga-pentixafor-positron emission tomography for other causes. Molecular imaging of aldosterone-producing tissue by a CXCR4-specific ligand may, therefore, be a highly promising tool for noninvasive characterization of patients with aldosterone-producing adenomas. KW - Hyperaldosteronismus KW - Nebenniere KW - Chemokine KW - Strahlenbelastung KW - Chemokinrezeptor KW - CXCR4 KW - Nebennierenvenenkatheter Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193614 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 - 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 - Chifu, Irina A1 - Heinze, Britta A1 - Fuss, Carmina T. A1 - Lang, Katharina A1 - Kroiss, Matthias A1 - Kircher, Stefan A1 - Ronchi, Cristina L. A1 - Altieri, Barbara A1 - Schirbel, Andreas A1 - Fassnacht, Martin A1 - Hahner, Stefanie T1 - Impact of the Chemokine Receptors CXCR4 and CXCR7 on Clinical Outcome in Adrenocortical Carcinoma JF - Frontiers in Endocrinology N2 - Chemokine receptors have a negative impact on tumor progression in several human cancers and have therefore been of interest for molecular imaging and targeted therapy. However, their clinical and prognostic significance in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemokine receptor profile in ACC and to analyse its association with clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcome. A chemokine receptor profile was initially evaluated by quantitative PCR in 4 normal adrenals, 18 ACC samples and human ACC cell line NCI-H295. High expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 in both healthy and malignant adrenal tissue and ACC cells was confirmed. In the next step, we analyzed the expression and cellular localization of CXCR4 and CXCR7 in ACC by immunohistochemistry in 187 and 84 samples, respectively. These results were correlated with clinicopathological parameters and survival outcome. We detected strong membrane expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 in 50% of ACC samples. Strong cytoplasmic CXCR4 staining was more frequent among samples derived from metastases compared to primaries (p=0.01) and local recurrences (p=0.04). CXCR4 membrane staining positively correlated with proliferation index Ki67 (r=0.17, p=0.028). CXCR7 membrane staining negatively correlated with Ki67 (r=−0.254, p=0.03) but positively with tumor size (r=0.3, p=0.02). No differences in progression-free or overall survival were observed between patients with strong and weak staining intensities for CXCR4 or CXCR7. Taken together, high expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 in both local tumors and metastases suggests that some ACC patients might benefit from CXCR4/CXCR7-targeted therapy. KW - chemokine receptor KW - prognosis KW - adrenocortical carcinoma KW - CXCR4 KW - CXCR7 Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-216494 SN - 1664-2392 VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Prieto-Garcia, Cristian A1 - Hartmann, Oliver A1 - Reissland, Michaela A1 - Braun, Fabian A1 - Bozkurt, Süleyman A1 - Pahor, Nikolett A1 - Fuss, Carmina A1 - Schirbel, Andreas A1 - Schülein-Völk, Christina A1 - Buchberger, Alexander A1 - Calzado Canale, Marco A. A1 - Rosenfeldt, Mathias A1 - Dikic, Ivan A1 - Münch, Christian A1 - Diefenbacher, Markus E. T1 - USP28 enables oncogenic transformation of respiratory cells, and its inhibition potentiates molecular therapy targeting mutant EGFR, BRAF and PI3K JF - Molecular Oncology N2 - Oncogenic transformation of lung epithelial cells is a multistep process, frequently starting with the inactivation of tumour suppressors and subsequent development of activating mutations in proto-oncogenes, such as members of the PI3K or MAPK families. Cells undergoing transformation have to adjust to changes, including altered metabolic requirements. This is achieved, in part, by modulating the protein abundance of transcription factors. Here, we report that the ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase 28 (USP28) enables oncogenic reprogramming by regulating the protein abundance of proto-oncogenes such as c-JUN, c-MYC, NOTCH and ∆NP63 at early stages of malignant transformation. USP28 levels are increased in cancer compared with in normal cells due to a feed-forward loop, driven by increased amounts of oncogenic transcription factors such as c-MYC and c-JUN. Irrespective of oncogenic driver, interference with USP28 abundance or activity suppresses growth and survival of transformed lung cells. Furthermore, inhibition of USP28 via a small-molecule inhibitor resets the proteome of transformed cells towards a ‘premalignant’ state, and its inhibition synergizes with clinically established compounds used to target EGFR\(^{L858R}\)-, BRAF\(^{V600E}\)- or PI3K\(^{H1047R}\)-driven tumour cells. Targeting USP28 protein abundance at an early stage via inhibition of its activity is therefore a feasible strategy for the treatment of early-stage lung tumours, and the observed synergism with current standard-of-care inhibitors holds the potential for improved targeting of established tumours. KW - buparlisib KW - c-MYC KW - gefitinib KW - lung cancer KW - USP28 KW - vemurafenib Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312777 VL - 16 IS - 17 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kimpel, Otilia A1 - Altieri, Barbara A1 - Dischinger, Ulrich A1 - Fuss, Carmina Teresa A1 - Kurlbaum, Max A1 - Fassnacht, Martin T1 - Early detection of recurrence and progress using serum steroid profiling by LC–MS/MS in patients with adrenocortical carcinoma JF - Metabolites N2 - Serum liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) steroid profiling is used for the diagnosis of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). Guidelines recommend endocrine work-up in addition to radiological imaging for follow-up in ACC, but data on this topic are scarce. Patients were included in this retrospective study if pre-therapeutic hormone values, regular tumour evaluation by imaging, steroid measurements by LC–MS/MS, and details on therapies were available. The utility of steroid profiles in detecting recurrence or disease progression was assessed, whereby “endocrine progress” was defined by an elevation of at least 3 of 13 analysed hormones. Cohort A included 47 patients after R0 resection, of whom 15 experienced recurrence and 32 did not. In cohort B, 52 patients with advanced disease (including 7 patients of cohort A with recurrence) could be evaluated on 74 visits when progressive disease was documented. In 20 of 89 cases with documented disease progression, “endocrine progress” was detectable prior to radiological progress. In these cases, recurrence/progression was detected at a median of 32 days earlier by steroid measurement than by imaging, with 11-deoxycortisol and testosterone being the most sensitive markers. Notably, these patients had significantly larger tumour burden. In conclusion, steroid profiling by LC–MS/MS is of value in detecting recurrent/progressive disease in ACC. KW - adrenal cancer KW - follow-up KW - steroid measurement KW - liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-355839 SN - 2218-1989 VL - 14 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Adolf, Christian A1 - Braun, Leah T. A1 - Fuss, Carmina T. A1 - Hahner, Stefanie A1 - Künzel, Heike A1 - Handgriff, Laura A1 - Sturm, Lisa A1 - Heinrich, Daniel A. A1 - Schneider, Holger A1 - Bidlingmaier, Martin A1 - Reincke, Martin T1 - Spironolactone reduces biochemical markers of bone turnover in postmenopausal women with primary aldosteronism JF - Endocrine N2 - Context Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent form of endocrine hypertension. Besides its deleterious impact on cardiovascular target organ damage, PA is considered to cause osteoporosis. Patients and methods We assessed bone turnover in a subset of 36 postmenopausal women with PA. 18 patients had unilateral PA and were treated by adrenalectomy, whereas 18 patients had bilateral PA and received mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) therapy respectively. 18 age- and BMI-matched females served as controls. To estimate bone remodeling, we measured the bone turnover markers intact procollagen 1 N-terminal propeptide, bone alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase 5b in plasma by chemiluminescent immunoassays at time of diagnosis and one year after initiation of treatment. Study design Observational longitudinal cohort study. Setting Tertiary care hospital. Results Compared with controls, patients with PA had mildly elevated osteocalcin at baseline (p = 0.013), while the other bone markers were comparable between both groups. There were no differences between the unilateral and the bilateral PA subgroup. One year after initiation of MRA treatment with spironolactone bone resorption and bone formation markers had significantly decreased in patients with bilateral PA. In contrast, patients adrenalectomized because of unilateral PA showed no significant change of bone turnover markers. Conclusion This study shows that aldosterone excess in postmenopausal women with PA is not associated with a relevant increase of bone turnover markers at baseline. However, we observed a significant decrease of bone markers in patients treated with spironolactone, but not in patients treated by adrenalectomy. KW - aldosterone KW - osteocalcin KW - osteoporosis KW - hyperparathyroidism KW - cortisol Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-315966 SN - 1355-008X SN - 1559-0100 VL - 69 IS - 3 ER -