Case report: A rare combination of aldosterone-secreting adrenocortical carcinoma and papillary thyroid carcinoma with Graves' disease

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Apr 5:15:1310408. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1310408. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy originating in the adrenal glands, aldosterone-producing ACC, even rarer. Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), by contrast, accounts for the majority of thyroid carcinomas. We herein describe the first reported case of a female with comorbidities of aldosterone-producing ACC, PTC, and Graves' Disease(GD). The patient achieved transient clinical remission following adrenalectomy. However, three months later, aldosterone-producing ACC lung metastases emerged. Subsequently, within another three-month interval, she developed thyroid eye disease(TED). The patient died roughly one year after the adrenal operation. Exome sequencing did not reveal associations between aldosterone-producing ACC, PTC, and GD, and the underlying concurrence mechanism has yet to be elucidated. Further research of similar cases are needed to confirm potential links between the three pathologies.

Keywords: Graves’ disease; adrenocortical carcinoma; aldosterone; exome sequencing; papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms* / complications
  • Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms* / metabolism
  • Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Adrenalectomy
  • Adrenocortical Carcinoma* / metabolism
  • Adrenocortical Carcinoma* / pathology
  • Aldosterone* / metabolism
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Female
  • Graves Disease* / complications
  • Graves Disease* / metabolism
  • Graves Disease* / pathology
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Thyroid Cancer, Papillary* / genetics
  • Thyroid Cancer, Papillary* / metabolism
  • Thyroid Cancer, Papillary* / pathology
  • Thyroid Neoplasms* / metabolism
  • Thyroid Neoplasms* / pathology

Substances

  • Aldosterone

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Project supported by Hainan Province Clinical Medical Center(No.[2021]276) and Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(824RC543).