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Ectopic "Adrenocorticotropin" Produced by Nonpituitary Neoplasms as a Cause of Cushing's Syndrome

GRANT W. LIDDLE, M.D.; DONALD P. ISLAND, B.S.; ROBERT L. NEY, M.D.; WENDELL E. NICHOLSON, B.S.; NAOKATA SHIMIZU, M.D.

Arch Intern Med. 1963;111(4):471-475.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Introduction

A recent paper¹ published jointly from this laboratory and that of Dr. John A. Luetscher developed the concept that certain tumors of "nonendocrine" tissues can give rise to Cushing's syndrome through the mechanism of secreting an adrenocorticotropic substance which promotes growth of the adrenal cortices and stimulates the secretion of adrenal steroids. It was demonstrated that patients harboring such tumors had excessive concentrations of adrenocorticotropic material in their plasma and that they secreted excessive quantities of cortisol (hydrocortisone), resulting in high levels of plasma and urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OHCS). The hypersecretion of cortisol could not be suppressed by the administration of exogenous steroids such as dexamethasone. Clinical manifestations varied from patient to patient depending upon such factors as the severity of the endocrinologic disturbance, the duration of the disorder, and the sex of the patient.

A sine qua non in the diagnosis of this clinicopathological entity is the demonstration . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
NASHVILLE, TENN.

Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Footnotes
Received for publication Dec. 26, 1962; accepted Dec. 28.

Presented before the American Clinical and Climatological Association, Oct. 26, 1962.

These studies were supported by grants-in-aid from the U.S. Public Health Service (AM-05318, 2A-5092, and OG-2).

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