Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Adrenal Endocrinology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1511520

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

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Introduction: Adrenal tumours (ATs) encompass a wide differential diagnosis, necessitating a multistep process for accurate identification. Liquid biopsy emerges as a promising non-invasive technique for distinguishing between malignant and benign, as well as hyperfunctioning and nonfunctioning cases. Recent studies have highlighted the potential of microRNAs as circulating biomarkers; however, their clinical utility remains underexplored. This study aims to validate the diagnostic performance of selected circulating microRNAs, (miR-483-5p, miR-210, miR-335 and miR-22-3p), identified through microRNA profiling studies, as markers of malignancy or cortisol hypersecretion in a cohort of patients with ATs.Methods: We collected serum samples from 75 patients with ATs, including 50 cases of adrenocortical adenomas (ACA) and 25 cases of adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC), along with 15 controls. In the ACC subgroup, 16 samples were obtained preoperatively or upon detection of recurrence (active ACC group), while the remaining from disease-free patients with long-term follow-up. Among the 56 patients with ATs evaluated preoperatively (50 with ACAs and 6 with ACC), 26 had non-functioning tumours, 22 exhibited mild autonomous cortisol secretion, and 8 had Cushing syndrome. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was employed to analyze microRNA expression.Results: Circulating levels of miR-483-5p and miR-210 were significantly elevated in patients with active ACC compared to both ACAs (p

Keywords: Adrenocortical tumours, diagnosis, follow-up, Molecular biomarker, liquid biopsy, micro-RNAs

Received: 15 Oct 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

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