Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was performed in eight patients with Cushing disease and surgically proven pituitary microadenomas. A 1.5 T scanner was used with 3 mm contiguous slices. Short repetition times (TR), short echo times (TE), and long TR, long TE sequences were obtained before and serially after intravenous administration of Gd-DTPA. Three of eight (38%) microadenomas were undetectable both without and with Gd-DTPA: one post-Gd-DTPA scan was false positive on the side opposite the adenoma. Hemihypophysectomy based on a petrosal sinus adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) gradient cured all three patients. Two microadenomas (25%) were visible as hypointense foci following Gd-DTPA but not on unenhanced scans. The remaining three microadenomas (38%) were seen before and after Gd-DTPA on T1-weighted images. In this small series of ACTH-producing microadenomas, one-third were seen on unenhanced 1.5 T scans, one-third were seen only after Gd-DTPA, and one-third were not imaged even with Gd-DTPA enhancement.
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PMID:Gadolinium DTPA enhanced MR imaging of ACTH-secreting microadenomas of the pituitary gland. 317 Aug 30

One woman (patient 1), aged 27 years, and one man (patient 2), aged 26 years, had pituitary surgery for pituitary-dependent Cushing's syndrome. An adenoma was identified and removed in both patients. Persistence of hypercortisolism characterized the response of patient 2 to surgery; transient hypoadrenalism, the response of patient 1. Patient 1 subsequently underwent a relapse. At the second surgery (total hypophysectomy for both patients), hyperplasia was demonstrated in patient 1, and scattered nests of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting cells were demonstrated in patient 2. Postoperatively, Cushing's syndrome persisted in both patients. Inferior petrosal sampling for ACTH during corticotropin releasing hormone stimulation verified a pituitary source of ACTH in patient 1. A decrease in cortisol secretion following hypophysectomy and subsequent cure by pituitary irradiation constitutes the evidence for pituitary origin in patient 2. Dexamethasone suppression and corticotropin releasing hormone-stimulation tests consistently suggested a pituitary cause throughout the clinical course of both patients. Computed tomographic scans after hypophysectomy revealed postoperative changes only. In both patients, panhypopituitarism, except for cortisol and ACTH, followed hypophysectomy. It may be concluded that patients with diffuse pituitary ACTH hyperplasia cannot, at present, be identified preoperatively by conventional clinical testing. Surgery for such patients may not be the therapy of choice.
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PMID:Failure of hypophysectomy to correct pituitary-dependent Cushing's disease in two patients. 319 Mar 83

Silent pituitary adenomas were compared with hormonally active tumors taking into account the size, number, and ultrastructural characteristics of secretory granules (SG). The study group (a total of 79 primary pituitary adenomas) comprised 27 silent, 21 growth hormone (GH)-producing-, 16 prolactin (PRL)-producing-, 5 GH-PRL-producing- and 10 adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-producing adenomas. The SG of silent adenomas were significantly smaller than SG in endocrine active adenomas. All hormonally inactive tumors also contained small (mean, 94 nm) specific cytoplasmic granules, designated "silent adenoma granules" (SIG). The fine structural features of the SIG included: a flocculent, granular material occupying an eccentric position in a larger vesicle limited by a double membrane. In the silent adenomas this particular granule was present in up to 90% of the adenoma cells and constituted approximately 10 to 50% of the granules in each cell. These granules were not seen in hormonally active tumors and considered therefore diagnostic of silent pituitary adenomas.
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PMID:Heterogeneity of secretory granules of silent pituitary adenomas. 323 2

We examined the utilization of human low density lipoprotein (LDL)- and high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol for steroid production in primary monolayer culture cells from adenomas of primary aldosteronism and Cushing's syndrome and an adrenal of nodular hyperplasia of Cushing's syndrome. We compared the data obtained with findings in the case of cultured normal human adrenocortical cells. In the presence of 10(-7) M adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), the addition of either LDL or HDL to the culture medium at a cholesterol concentration of 100 micrograms/ml led to a significant increase in the daily secretion rates of cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) and aldosterone in the adenoma and nodular hyperplasia cells, as in the normal cells. Although LDL greatly increased the secretion of steroid hormones, no significant difference in steroid secretion following the treatments with LDL and HDL were observed in these cultured cells. The contribution of endogenous cholesterol to steroid production was also high, thereby indicating that the neoplastic transformation did not have untoward effects. Cells from adenomas of primary aldosteronism secreted not only aldosterone, but also cortisol and DHEA-S. The daily secretion rates of these steroids were markedly increased when ACTH was added to the medium. With prolonged exposure to ACTH, however, the rate of aldosterone secretion showed a gradual decrease with the incubation time. This decrease might be due to the impaired conversion of corticosterone to 18-hydroxycorticosterone. In case of adenomas in patients with Cushing's syndrome, the secretion of steroid hormones varied in quantity and quality, depending on the type of plasma cortisol response to the rapid ACTH test in vivo, thereby suggesting that the adrenocortical adenoma of Cushing's syndrome might be divided into two subtypes. These results indicate that human functioning adrenocortical adenoma cells utilize plasma lipoproteins as a source of cholesterol for steroidogenesis during the prolonged stimulation of steroid secretion.
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PMID:Studies on lipoprotein and adrenal steroidogenesis: II. Utilization of low density lipoprotein- and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol for steroid production in functioning human adrenocortical adenoma cells in culture. 343 98

A 24-year-old woman with severe Cushing's syndrome was found to have corticotroph cell pituitary adenoma arising within a benign cystic ovarian teratoma. The patient manifested sustained hypercortisolemia and lack of suppression of either adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) or cortisol production. There was no evidence of a pituitary mass or secretion of other hormones. After careful clinical evaluation, no other tumor masses were found. Resection of the ovarian tumor led to normalization of ACTH and cortisol levels. Densely granulated corticotroph tumor cells with prominent Type I microfilaments and intracytoplasmic ACTH immunoreactivity characterized the neoplasm as a pituitary corticotroph cell adenoma. This is, to our knowledge, the first case reported of a functioning pituitary adenoma arising within a benign cystic teratoma.
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PMID:Corticotroph cell pituitary adenoma within an ovarian teratoma. A new cause of Cushing's syndrome. 354 46

Carcinoid tumors of the middle ear are rare, with only three previously reported cases. The authors report the light and electron microscopic and immunohistochemical features of two carcinoid tumors that occurred in a 34-year-old female and a 21-year-old male. Both presented with unilateral hearing loss. By light microscopic examination, both were characterized by trabecula of tall columnar cells with basal nuclei and no mitotic activity. Electron microscopic examination demonstrated large numbers of pleomorphic neurosecretory granules, perinuclear aggregates of intermediate filaments, cell junctions, and surface microvillous processes. Some cells contained intermediate filaments forming tonofilaments and lacked secretory granules. These cells stained for cytokeratin by immunoperoxidase and separated the neuroendocrine cells from the underlying basal lamina. The cells in this tumor stained for the molluscan cardioexcitatory peptide. Cells in both tumors also stained for pancreatic polypeptide. Neither case stained for lysozyme, insulin, glucagon, somatastatin, gastrin, substance P, thyroid-stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, Met-enkephalin, Leu-enkephalin, neuropeptide Y, peptide YY, neurotensin, Bombesin, serotonin, neuron-specific enolose, glial and neural filaments, S-100 protein, cholecystokinin, beta-endorphin, beta-human chorionic gonadotropin, luteinizing hormone/follicle-stimulating hormone, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, prolactin or calcitonin. Carcinoid tumor of the middle ear can be distinguished from paraganglioma and middle ear adenoma.
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PMID:Carcinoid tumors of the middle ear. 357 33

The endocrinological, radiological, surgical, and pathological experience with 34 consecutive patients operated on for Cushing's disease is presented. Preoperative endocrine evaluation demonstrated that 19 patients had "typical" endocrine patterns for pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent hypercortisolism and 11 had "atypical" testing. Pituitary pathology was found in 95% of the patients with typical preoperative endocrine testing but in only 55% of those with atypical testing. Eight of 34 preoperative computerized tomography scans demonstrated tumors, which correlated in all instances with the surgical findings. Microadenomas were removed from 25 patients, 22 of whom achieved postoperative remission of endocrine symptoms. Macroadenomas were found in three patients, only one of whom achieved remission after surgery. One patient had removal of an adenoma in the pharyngeal pituitary, and in another an ectopic lung carcinoid was excised; both of these patients were in postoperative remission. Four patients underwent transsphenoidal exploration but no definitive explanation was found for their hypercortisolism; these patients were not in remission. Immunohistochemical staining was performed on every specimen and all tumors showed excessive ACTH-secreting cells. A new rapid stain of the fibrovascular stroma is described.
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PMID:Surgical treatment of Cushing's disease. 380 3

Proper treatment of patients with Cushing syndrome depends on knowledge of whether the condition derives from a pituitary or adrenal adenoma or an ectopic tumor that secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Fifty-seven patients with Cushing syndrome were prospectively evaluated to determine whether computed tomography (CT) of the pituitary gland is useful in diagnosing or excluding an ACTH-producing adenoma and in predicting the site of the adenoma within the pituitary gland. Findings on CT scans were normal in 35 of 50 patients with surgically confirmed Cushing disease and in seven patients with ectopic ACTH-producing tumors. Of the 15 patients with Cushing disease for whom CT results were abnormal, eight had macroadenomas and seven had microadenomas. This study demonstrates a low sensitivity (30%) and low diagnostic accuracy (39%) of CT in the detection of ACTH-producing pituitary tumors and indicates the need for alternative methods of confirming the pituitary origin of excessive ACTH secretion in most patients.
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PMID:Cushing syndrome: pituitary CT scanning. 380 93

Angiotensin II has a major effect on mineralocorticoid hormone synthesis in patients with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism; it has little or no effect in those with an aldosterone-producing adenoma. To determine if this difference could be of use in clinically separating these two forms of primary aldosteronism, saline infusion tests were performed in 20 patients--14 with surgically proved aldosterone-producing adenoma and six with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism. With the patients receiving a balanced diet containing 120 meq of sodium, 1,250 ml of isotonic saline was infused intravenously between 8 A.M. and 10 A.M. after overnight recumbency. Plasma samples were obtained immediately before and after the infusion. Plasma cortisol level decreased appropriately in both groups, but plasma renin concentration decreased only in those patients with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (p less than 0.05). Aldosterone and 18-hydroxycorticosterone levels decreased in both groups. To account for the circadian variation in adrenocorticotropin levels during the course of saline infusion, 18-hydroxycorticosterone/cortisol and aldosterone/cortisol ratios were examined. Both ratios increased in every patient with aldosterone-producing adenoma (p less than 0.01 and p less than 0.001, respectively), but these ratios remained unchanged or decreased in the patients with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism. This divergent variation in ratios after saline infusion allows for the differentiation of patients with an aldosterone-producing adenoma from those with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism. In patients with primary aldosteronism, an 18-hydroxycorticosterone/cortisol ratio of less than 3.0 or an aldosterone/cortisol ratio of less than 2.2 after saline infusion is diagnostic of idiopathic hyperaldosteronism.
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PMID:Use of the saline infusion test to diagnose the cause of primary aldosteronism. 390 46

Cushing's syndrome continues to tax the most discerning clinician. I review pituitary-dependent adrenal hyperplasia (Cushing's disease), including recent experiences with Cushing's disease at Duke University, Durham, NC, and relate these observations to the current ideas as to pathophysiology, etiology, and management of Cushing's disease. Transsphenoidal microsurgery (TPS) performed by an experienced neurosurgeon offers selective removal of corticotropin (ACTH)-secreting adenoma, immediately cures the hypercortisolism, preserves pituitary function, and is associated with minimal morbidity. Postoperative hypoadrenalism appears to be the best marker of surgical cure. Transsphenoidal surgery has revolutionized our thoughts as to etiology and treatment of Cushing's disease, yet failures with TPS and uncertainty of recurrences leave room for radiotherapy, adrenalectomy, and adjunctive drug therapy in the management of this entity.
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PMID:Cushing's disease. A review. 392 62


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