Adrenocortical Carcinoma: A Challenging Diagnosis.

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy with aggressive behaviour and a poor prognosis. Patients can present with adrenal hormonal excess or with nonspecific symptoms driven by the presence of an abdominal mass or metastatic disease. Many are completely asymptomatic and diagnosed incidentally.

Should it stay or should it go: gap junction protein GJA1/Cx43 conveys damaged lysosomes to the cell periphery to potentiate exocytosis.

GJA1/Cx43 (gap junction protein alpha 1) has long been associated with gap junctions-mediated communication between adjacent cells. However, recent data have defied this concept, with studies implicating GJA1 in other biological processes, such as macroautophagy/autophagy regulation, mitochondrial activity and extracellular vesicles biology. In our recent study we unveiled an additional role played by GJA1 in lysosomal trafficking.

An Infrequent Histopathological Diagnosis in a Prevalent Systemic Disease: A Case of Renal Sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic granulomatous disease that results from an aberrant immunological response to certain antigens. Although pulmonary involvement predominates, renal involvement may also occur. We present the case of a 59-year-old woman with a recent diagnosis of hepatic sarcoidosis and a history of non-compliance with treatment who was admitted to the hospital for study of acute kidney injury.

Connexin43 promotes exocytosis of damaged lysosomes through actin remodelling.

A robust and efficient cellular response to lysosomal membrane damage prevents leakage from the lysosome lumen into the cytoplasm. This response is understood to happen through either lysosomal membrane repair or lysophagy. Here we report exocytosis as a third response mechanism to lysosomal damage, which is further potentiated when membrane repair or lysosomal degradation mechanisms are impaired.