Steroid hormones in systemic sclerosis: associations with disease characteristics and modifications during scleroderma renal crisis.

Objective: The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and glucocorticoids (GCs) are involved in vascular remodeling and fibrosis but have not been extensively studied in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Our aim was to investigate the RAAS and GC hormones in SSc patients.

Methods: Serum levels of renin (dosage and activity), aldosterone and its precursors (DOC, B, 18-OH-DOC, 18-OH-B), and GCs (cortisol, cortisone, 11-deoxycortisol, 18-OH-F) were assessed in 122 SSc patients and 52 healthy controls.

Time Until Partial Response in Metastatic Adrenocortical Carcinoma Long-Term Survivors.

A partial response (PR) has been proposed as a surrogate for overall survival in advanced adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). The primary endpoint of the study was to characterize the time until a PR in patients with metastatic ACC treated with a standard therapy is achieved. Long-term survivors were selected to allow evaluation of delayed tumor response to mitotane.

Unexpected overestimation of methotrexate plasma concentrations: analysis of a single center pediatric population.

Background: At this center, therapeutic drug monitoring of methotrexate (MTX) used to be performed by fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA). We observed an increasing number of unusual high MTX concentrations at 48 and 72 hours during a couple of years. This study aimed to identify the causes of this variation.