Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a highly malignant tumor with an incidence of 1 to 1.6 cases per million per year. It presents with metastatic disease in up to 40% of cases. In advanced or recurrent disease treatment options are limited, and therapies using agents such as mitotane, cisplatin and adriamycin effect a tumor response rate of less than 30%. Pheochromocytomas have emerged as an endocrine malignancy with few options but with promising targets and very interesting genetics and these are being pursued. In adrenocortical cancer we are pursuing genetic and expression analyses to better understand these unique cancers and their diverse biology. Pheochromocytomas present a very rare disease with very unique biological and clinical properties and with increasingly complex and puzzling genetics. We are pursuing clinical strategies that will hopefully lead to better therapies and better understanding of how our therapies work and preclinical and laboratory studies to better understand the biology of cancers driven by mutations in the SDHB gene.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter