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Honour JW. The interpretation of immunometric, chromatographic and mass spectrometric data for steroids in diagnosis of endocrine disorders. Steroids 2024; 211:109502. [PMID: 39214232 DOI: 10.1016/j.steroids.2024.109502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2024] [Revised: 08/25/2024] [Accepted: 08/26/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
The analysis of steroids for endocrine disorders is in transition from immunoassay of individual steroids to more specific chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods with simultaneous determination of several steroids. Gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) offer unrivalled analytical capability for steroid analysis. These specialist techniques were often judged to be valuable only in a research laboratory but this is no longer the case. In a urinary steroid profile up to 30 steroids are identified with concentrations and excretion rates reported in a number of ways. The assays must accommodate the wide range in steroid concentrations in biological fluids from micromolar for dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) to picomolar for oestradiol and aldosterone. For plasma concentrations, panels of 5-20 steroids are reported. The profile results are complex and interpretation is a real challenge in order to inform clinicians of likely implications. Although artificial intelligence and machine learning will in time generate reports from the analysis this is a way off being adopted into clinical practice. This review offers guidance on current interpretation of the data from steroid determinations in clinical practice. Using this approach more laboratories can use the techniques to answer clinical questions and offer broader interpretation of the results so that the clinician can understand the conclusion for the steroid defect, and can be advised to program further tests if necessary and instigate treatment. The biochemistry is part of the patient workup and a clinician led multidisciplinary team discussion of the results will be required for challenging patients. The laboratory will have to consider cost implications, bearing in mind that staff costs are the highest component. GC-MS and LC-MS/MS analysis of steroids are the choices. Steroid profiling has enormous potential to improve diagnosis of adrenal disorders and should be adopted in more laboratories in favour of the cheap, non-specific immunological methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- John W Honour
- Institute for Women's Health, University College London, 74 Huntley Street, London WC1E 6AU, UK.
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Ardhanari S, Kannuswamy R, Chaudhary K, Lockette W, Whaley-Connell A. Mineralocorticoid and apparent mineralocorticoid syndromes of secondary hypertension. Adv Chronic Kidney Dis 2015; 22:185-95. [PMID: 25908467 DOI: 10.1053/j.ackd.2015.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2015] [Revised: 03/02/2015] [Accepted: 03/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The mineralocorticoid aldosterone is a key hormone in the regulation of plasma volume and blood pressure in man. Excessive levels of this mineralocorticoid have been shown to mediate metabolic disorders and end-organ damage more than what can be attributed to its effects on blood pressure alone. Inappropriate excess levels of aldosterone contribute significantly to the cardiorenal metabolic syndrome and target organ injury that include atherosclerosis, myocardial hypertrophy, fibrosis, heart failure, and kidney disease. The importance of understanding the role of excess mineralocorticoid hormones such as aldosterone in resistant hypertension and in those with secondary hypertension should be visited. Primary aldosteronism is one of the commonly identified causes of hypertension and is treatable and/or potentially curable. We intend to review the management of mineralocorticoid-induced hypertension in the adult population along with other disease entities that mimic primary aldosteronism.
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Honour JW. Diagnosis of diseases of steroid hormone production, metabolism and action. J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol 2009; 1:209-26. [PMID: 21274298 PMCID: PMC3005746 DOI: 10.4274/jcrpe.v1i5.209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2009] [Accepted: 08/24/2009] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Biochemical tests have been the basis for investigations of disorders affecting steroid hormones. In recent years it has been possible however to study the genes that determine functional enzymes, cofactors, receptors, transcription factors and signaling systems that are involved in the process. Analyses of mutations are available as a diagnostic service for only a few of these genes although research laboratories may be able to provide a service. Both biochemical and genetic research have brought to light new disorders. Some genes for transcription factors involved in the development of the endocrine organs have also been identified and patients with defects in these processes have been found. This paper will review general aspects of adrenal disorders with emphasis on clinical and laboratory findings. As with all endocrine investigations there are few single measurements that provide a definitive answer to a diagnosis. Timing of samples in relation to age, gender and time of day needs to be considered.
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Chuzhanova N, Chen JM, Bacolla A, Patrinos GP, Férec C, Wells RD, Cooper DN. Gene conversion causing human inherited disease: evidence for involvement of non-B-DNA-forming sequences and recombination-promoting motifs in DNA breakage and repair. Hum Mutat 2009; 30:1189-98. [PMID: 19431182 PMCID: PMC2779867 DOI: 10.1002/humu.21020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
A variety of DNA sequence motifs including inverted repeats, minisatellites, and the chi recombination hotspot, have been reported in association with gene conversion in human genes causing inherited disease. However, no methodical statistically based analysis has been performed to formalize these observations. We have performed an in silico analysis of the DNA sequence tracts involved in 27 nonoverlapping gene conversion events in 19 different genes reported in the context of inherited disease. We found that gene conversion events tend to occur within (C+G)- and CpG-rich regions and that sequences with the potential to form non-B-DNA structures, and which may be involved in the generation of double-strand breaks that could, in turn, serve to promote gene conversion, occur disproportionately within maximal converted tracts and/or short flanking regions. Maximal converted tracts were also found to be enriched (P<0.01) in a truncated version of the chi-element (a TGGTGG motif), immunoglobulin heavy chain class switch repeats, translin target sites and several novel motifs including (or overlapping) the classical meiotic recombination hotspot, CCTCCCCT. Finally, gene conversions tend to occur in genomic regions that have the potential to fold into stable hairpin conformations. These findings support the concept that recombination-inducing motifs, in association with alternative DNA conformations, can promote recombination in the human genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadia Chuzhanova
- School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK
| | - Jian-Min Chen
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U613, Brest, France
- Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS) – Bretagne, Brest, France
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO), Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Brest, France
- Institut Fédératif de Recherche (IFR) 148, Brest, France
| | - Albino Bacolla
- Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Houston TX, USA
| | - George P. Patrinos
- Erasmus University Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, MGC-Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Claude Férec
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U613, Brest, France
- Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS) – Bretagne, Brest, France
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO), Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Brest, France
- Institut Fédératif de Recherche (IFR) 148, Brest, France
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) Brest, Hôpital Morvan, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire et d'Histocompatibilité, Brest, France
| | - Robert D. Wells
- Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Houston TX, USA
| | - David N. Cooper
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK
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Chen JM, Cooper DN, Chuzhanova N, Férec C, Patrinos GP. Gene conversion: mechanisms, evolution and human disease. Nat Rev Genet 2007; 8:762-75. [PMID: 17846636 DOI: 10.1038/nrg2193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 472] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Gene conversion, one of the two mechanisms of homologous recombination, involves the unidirectional transfer of genetic material from a 'donor' sequence to a highly homologous 'acceptor'. Considerable progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie gene conversion, its formative role in human genome evolution and its implications for human inherited disease. Here we assess current thinking about how gene conversion occurs, explore the key part it has played in fashioning extant human genes, and carry out a meta-analysis of gene-conversion events that are known to have caused human genetic disease.
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