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Are Ectopic or Abnormal Membrane Hormone Receptors Frequently Present in Adrenal Cushing’s Syndrome?¹

Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Research Center, Hôtel-Dieu du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H2W 1T8

Address correspondence and requests for reprints to: André Lacroix, M.D., Division of Endocrinology, Research Center, Hôtel-Dieu du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, 3850 Saint-Urbain Street, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2W 1T8. E-mail: andre.lacroix{at}umontreal.ca

Twenty consecutive patients with adrenal Cushing’s syndrome were studied with an in vivo protocol to determine the prevalence and diversity of the presence of ectopic or abnormal hormone receptors in their adrenal tissues. All six patients with bilateral ACTH-independent macronodular adrenal hyperplasia were found to have one or two abnormal adrenal receptors, including those for gastric inhibitory polypeptide, vasopressin (V1-vasopressin), ß-adrenergic agonists, LH/human CG, or serotonin 5-HT₄. The presence of abnormal hormone receptors was found to be less frequently present in unilateral adenomas or carcinomas (3 of 14). The identification of abnormal adrenal hormone receptors can allow new pharmacological therapies of hypercortisolism. We suggest that the clinical screening for the presence of abnormal hormone receptors should be conducted in patients with adrenal Cushing’s syndrome and, more particularly, in those with ACTH-independent macronodular adrenal hyperplasia, in the hope of offering medical therapy as an alternative to bilateral adrenalectomy.

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