Gene expression profiling in adrenocortical neoplasia

Transcriptome studies of adrenocortical tumors have shown clear differences between adenomas and carcinomas and identified two subgroups of carcinomas with different prognoses. This review focuses on how transcriptomes have enriched our knowledge about genes previously identified by classical candidate gene approaches, uncovered novel genes relevant to adrenocortical tumor biology, helped to identify and understand specific pathway alterations, and advanced the overall translational relevance of this field of research.

► Transcriptomes discriminate adrenocortical adenomas and carcinomas. ► Transcriptomes identify two groups of carcinomas with a different prognosis. ► In the group of poor prognosis, transcriptomes identify three subgroups. ► One of the three subgroups shows a p53 inactivation, one a Wnt/βcatenin activation. ► The diagnostic and prognostic information are transferred to clinical practice.