Steroidomic Approach in Adrenal and Androgenic Dysfunctions: From Clinical Biochemistry to Endocrinology

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Endocrinology and Clinical Metabolic Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2024 | Viewed by 1903

Special Issue Editors

Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Interests: neuroendocrinology; cardiovascular endocrinology; metabolism
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Interests: steroid; LC-MS/MS; clinical biochemistry; anti-doping; metabo-lomics
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Department of Medical Sci-ences; University of Turin; Turin, Italy
Interests: Cardiovascular endocrinology; adrenal diseases; endocrine hy-pertension; obesity; neuroendocrinology; metabolism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit original research articles and/or original reviews to this Special Issue entitled “Steroidomic Approach in Adrenal and Androgenic Dysfunctions: From Clinical Biochemistry to Endocrinology” of the Metabolites journal.

For decades, the diagnostic evaluation of adrenal and androgen-related diseases in clinical endocrinology has been based on the measurement of circulating levels of a limited number of steroid hormones performed in clinical biochemistry laboratories. More recently, the introduction and spread of mass-spectrometry-based analytical platforms in clinical contexts has opened new frontiers in the diagnosis of adrenal and androgenic diseases, helping the discovery of novel steroidal markers and leading to a deeper understanding of diseases that have often been classified as idiopathic in clinical endocrine practice.

With this Special Issue, besides addressing the unmet diagnostic needs of both adrenal and androgenic dysfunctions, we would like to welcome original studies dealing with the development and validation of innovative analytical techniques for steroid measurement in clinical biochemistry laboratories as well as their application in clinical endocrinology for the improvement of diagnostic accuracy and patient management.

Prof. Dr. Ezio Ghigo
Dr. Federico Ponzetto
Dr. Mirko Parasiliti-Caprino
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • endocrinology
  • clinical biochemistry
  • adrenals
  • androgens
  • steroids
  • mass spectrometry

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2188 KiB  
Article
Employing 11-Ketotestosterone as a Target Analyte for Adrenosterone (11OXO) Administration in Doping Controls
by Thomas Piper, Gregor Fußhöller and Mario Thevis
Metabolites 2024, 14(3), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo14030141 - 26 Feb 2024
Viewed by 562
Abstract
Adrenosterone (Androst-4-ene-3,11,17-trione, 11OXO) is forbidden in sports according to the Prohibited List of the World Anti-Doping Agency. The administration of 11OXO may be detected by monitoring the urinary concentrations of its main human metabolites 11β-hydroxy-androsterone and 11β-hydroxy-etiocholanolone. Preliminary urinary concentration and concentration ratio [...] Read more.
Adrenosterone (Androst-4-ene-3,11,17-trione, 11OXO) is forbidden in sports according to the Prohibited List of the World Anti-Doping Agency. The administration of 11OXO may be detected by monitoring the urinary concentrations of its main human metabolites 11β-hydroxy-androsterone and 11β-hydroxy-etiocholanolone. Preliminary urinary concentration and concentration ratio thresholds have been established for sports drug testing purposes, but adaptations are desirable as the suggested limits would result in numerous suspicious findings due to naturally elevated concentrations and ratios. Recently, the metabolism of 11-oxo-testosterone (KT) was investigated in the context of anti-doping research, resulting in a preliminary urinary concentration threshold and a confirmation procedure based on the determination of carbon isotope ratios (CIRs). Gas chromatography coupled to isotope ratio mass spectrometry was employed to investigate the CIRs of selected steroids. As KT is also a metabolite of 11OXO, the developed protocols for KT have been tested to elucidate their potential to detect the administration of 11OXO after a single oral dose of 100 mg. In order to further improve the analytical approach, the threshold for urinary concentrations of KT was re-investigated by employing a reference population of n = 5232 routine doping control samples. Quantification of urinary steroids was conducted by employing gas chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Derived from these, a subset of n = 106 samples showing elevated concentrations of KT was investigated regarding their CIRs. By means of this, potentially positive samples due to the illicit administration of 11OXO or KT could be excluded, and the calculation of reference population-derived thresholds for the concentrations and CIR of KT was possible. Based on the results, the urinary concentration threshold for KT is suggested to be established at 130 ng/mL. Full article
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11 pages, 866 KiB  
Article
Early Detection of Recurrence and Progress Using Serum Steroid Profiling by LC–MS/MS in Patients with Adrenocortical Carcinoma
by Otilia Kimpel, Barbara Altieri, Ulrich Dischinger, Carmina Teresa Fuss, Max Kurlbaum and Martin Fassnacht
Metabolites 2024, 14(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo14010020 - 28 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1043
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
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