Pathogenesis of benign adrenocortical tumors

Most adrenocortical tumors (ACT) are benign unilateral adrenocortical adenomas, often discovered incidentally. Exceptionally, ACT are bilateral. However bilateral ACT have been very helpful to progress in the pathophysiology of ACT. Although most ACT are of sporadic origin, they may also be part of syndromic and/or hereditary disorders. The identification of the genetics of familial diseases associated with benign ACT has been helpful to define somatic alterations in sporadic ACT: for example, identification of PRKAR1A mutations in Carney complex or alterations of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis Coli. Components of the cAMP signaling pathway—for example, adrenocorticotropic-hormone receptors and other membrane receptors, Gs protein, phosphodiesterases and protein kinase A—can be altered to various degrees in benign cortisol-secreting ACT.These progress have been important for the understanding of the pathogenesis of benign ACT, but already have profound implications for clinical management, for example in unraveling the genetic origin of disease in some patients with ACT. They also have therapeutic consequences, and should help to develop new therapeutic options.