AIM-MACE study - version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Study on adrenal incidentalomas causing metabolic dysfunction due to mild autonomous cortisol excess
IRAS ID
254143
Contact name
Konstantinos Manolopoulos
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The adrenals are glands located on top of the kidneys that produce a variety of hormones, including the stress hormone cortisol. Up to 10 out of 100 adults have a benign lump in their adrenal glands called an “adrenal incidentaloma”. When doctors find an incidentaloma, they do some tests to check if it produces excess cortisol, which can cause diabetes, high blood pressure and abnormal amounts of lipids in the blood.
We found that about half of adrenal incidentalomas produce excess cortisol, a condition called “mild autonomous cortisol excess” (MACE). Therefore, MACE comes with an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.
This research project focuses on understanding the link between MACE and developing cardio-metabolic complications undertaking a systematic approach. Firstly, we will look at blood and urine samples of patients with type 2 diabetes and healthy control subjects, measuring parameters of steroid and global metabolism. These results will be compared to those of patients with adrenal incidentalomas (with or without MACE). Secondly, we have designed a study to evaluate how MACE influences the metabolism of sugars and fat, that may lead to insulin resistance, a hallmark in the development of diabetes. We will compare patients with MACE and healthy control subjects, using techniques that allow measurement of metabolites under near-normal conditions. Blood will be drawn from veins draining fat and muscle tissue. This will allow a very detailed study of how these tissues metabolise sugars and fat, and how this is affected by MACE.
Our results will be used to develop markers that might help clinicians decide which patients with MACE would benefit from treatment.REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0037
Date of REC Opinion
9 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion