Browsing by Subject "Cushing disease"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Copeptin Levels Before and After Transsphenoidal Surgery for Cushing Disease: A Potential Early Marker of Remission
    (Endocrine Society, 2022-04-06) Flippo, Chelsi; Tatsi, Christina; Sinaii, Ninet; De La Luz Sierra, Maria; Belyavskaya, Elena; Lyssikatos, Charalampos; Keil, Meg; Spanakis, Elias; Stratakis, Constantine A.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Context: Arginine-vasopressin and CRH act synergistically to stimulate secretion of ACTH. There is evidence that glucocorticoids act via negative feedback to suppress arginine-vasopressin secretion. Objective: Our hypothesis was that a postoperative increase in plasma copeptin may serve as a marker of remission of Cushing disease (CD). Design: Plasma copeptin was obtained in patients with CD before and daily on postoperative days 1 through 8 after transsphenoidal surgery. Peak postoperative copeptin levels and Δcopeptin values were compared among those in remission vs no remission. Results: Forty-four patients (64% female, aged 7-55 years) were included, and 19 developed neither diabetes insipidus (DI) or syndrome of inappropriate anti-diuresis (SIADH). Thirty-three had follow-up at least 3 months postoperatively. There was no difference in peak postoperative copeptin in remission (6.1 pmol/L [4.3-12.1]) vs no remission (7.3 pmol/L [5.4-8.4], P = 0.88). Excluding those who developed DI or SIADH, there was no difference in peak postoperative copeptin in remission (10.2 pmol/L [6.9-21.0]) vs no remission (5.4 pmol/L [4.6-7.3], P = 0.20). However, a higher peak postoperative copeptin level was found in those in remission (14.6 pmol/L [±10.9] vs 5.8 (±1.4), P = 0.03]) with parametric testing. There was no difference in the Δcopeptin by remission status. Conclusions: A difference in peak postoperative plasma copeptin as an early marker to predict remission of CD was not consistently present, although the data point to the need for a larger sample size to further evaluate this. However, the utility of this test may be limited to those who develop neither DI nor SIADH postoperatively.
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    Germline loss-of-function PAM variants are enriched in subjects with pituitary hypersecretion
    (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2023-01-20) Trivellin, Giampaolo; Daly, Adrian F.; Hernández-Ramírez, Laura C.; Araldi, Elisa; Tatsi, Christina; Dale, Ryan K.; Fridell, Gus; Mittal, Arjun; Faucz, Fabio R.; Iben, James R.; Li, Tianwei; Vitali, Eleonora; Stojilkovic, Stanko S.; Kamenicky, Peter; Villa, Chiara; Baussart, Bertrand; Chittiboina, Prashant; Toro, Camilo; Gahl, William A.; Eugster, Erica A.; Naves, Luciana A.; Jaffrain-Rea, Marie-Lise; de Herder, Wouter W.; Neggers, Sebastian Jcmm; Petrossians, Patrick; Beckers, Albert; Lania, Andrea G.; Mains, Richard E.; Eipper, Betty A.; Stratakis, Constantine A.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Pituitary adenomas (PAs) are common, usually benign tumors of the anterior pituitary gland which, for the most part, have no known genetic cause. PAs are associated with major clinical effects due to hormonal dysregulation and tumoral impingement on vital brain structures. Following the identification of a loss-of-function variant (p.Arg703Gln) in the PAM gene in a family with pituitary gigantism, we investigated 299 individuals with sporadic PAs and 17 familial isolated pituitary adenomas kindreds for PAM variants. PAM encodes a multifunctional protein responsible for the essential C-terminal amidation of secreted peptides. Genetic screening was performed by germline and tumor sequencing and germline copy number variation (CNV) analysis. No germline CNVs or somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) were identified. We detected seven likely pathogenic heterozygous missense, truncating, and regulatory SNVs. These SNVs were found in sporadic subjects with GH excess (p.Gly552Arg and p.Phe759Ser), pediatric Cushing disease (c.−133T>C and p.His778fs), or with different types of PAs (c.−361G>A, p.Ser539Trp, and p.Asp563Gly). The SNVs were functionally tested in vitro for protein expression and trafficking by Western blotting, for splicing by minigene assays, and for amidation activity in cell lysates and serum samples. These analyses confirmed a deleterious effect on protein expression and/or function. By interrogating 200,000 exomes from the UK Biobank, we confirmed a significant association of the PAM gene and rare PAM SNVs to diagnoses linked to pituitary gland hyperfunction. Identification of PAM as a candidate gene associated with pituitary hypersecretion opens the possibility of developing novel therapeutics based on altering PAM function.
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    Mifepristone as Bridge or Adjunct Therapy in the Management of Challenging Cushing Disease Cases
    (Sage, 2021) Chang, Alice Y.; Mirfakhraee, Sasan; King, Elizabeth E.; Mercado, Jennifer U.; Donegan, Diane M.; Yuen, Kevin C. J.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Establishing a definitive diagnosis of Cushing disease (CD), given its clinical and biochemical heterogeneity, initiating effective treatment to control the effects of hypercortisolism, and managing recurrence are challenging disease aspects to address. Mifepristone is a competitive glucocorticoid receptor antagonist that is approved in the US by the Food and Drug Administration to control hyperglycemia secondary to endogenous hypercortisolism (Cushing syndrome) in patients who have glucose intolerance or type 2 diabetes mellitus and have failed surgery or are not candidates for surgery. Herein, we describe 6 patients with CD who received mifepristone as adjunct/bridge therapy in the following clinical settings: to assess clinical benefits of treatment for suspected recurrent disease, to control hypercortisolism preoperatively for severe disease, to control hypercortisolism during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide adjunctive treatment to radiation therapy. The patients were treated at multiple medical practice settings. Mifepristone treatment in each of the described cases was associated with clinical improvements, including improvements in overall glycemia, hypertension, and weight loss. In addition, in one case where biochemical and radiological evidence of disease recurrence was uncertain, clinical improvement with mifepristone pointed toward likely disease recurrence. Adverse events associated with mifepristone reported in the 6 cases were consistent with those previously reported in the pivotal trial and included cortisol withdrawal symptoms, antiprogesterone effects (vaginal bleeding), hypothyroidism (treated with levothyroxine), and hypokalemia (treated with spironolactone). These cases show how mifepristone can potentially be utilized as a therapeutic trial in equivocal cases of CD recurrence; as a presurgical treatment strategy, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic; and as bridge therapy, while awaiting the effects of radiation.