Hair Cortisol and Cushing's Disease (HAIRCUSH)

Usefulness of Hair Cortisol/Cortisone Concentrations for the Monitoring of Medical Treatment in Patients With Cushing's Disease

The biochemical tools usable to assess the control of hypercortisolism in patients with Cushing's disease receiving medical treatments are debatable. The aim of the study is to compare the results of the measurement of cortisol and cortisone using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in scalp hair (so called "Hair Cortisol") to that of 24h urinary free cortisol (UFC) and late night salivary cortisol (LNSC) for the monitoring of medical therapy in patients with Cushing's disease (CD).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cushing Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Patient group; Diagnostic test: Remission control group; Diagnostic test: Bilateral surrenalectomy control group

Detailed Description

Selective surgical removal of the pituitary corticotroph adenoma is the ideal treatment of Cushing's disease. However, surgery may not be feasible or is unsuccessful in roughly 25% of patients. In addition, a recurrence of the disease is observed after a transient remission in 15 to 25% of patients. Several therapeutic alternatives are available, amongst which medical treatment is commonly used. Drugs that are available in France to control hypercortisolism target the pituitary adenoma secretion (pasireotide and cabergoline) or inhibit adrenal steroidogenesis (ketoconazole and metyrapone). Usual criteria to monitor the treatment and titrate the drug dosage include evaluation of relevant clinical endpoints and measurement of UFC. However, limitations of UFC for this purpose, include difficulties in obtaining a complete 24 urine collection and the fact that UFC assess only short-term cortisol in a disease characterized by high variability over time in the intensity of hypercortisolism. Elsewhere, a mild to moderate hypercortisolism may persist despite a normal UFC. Several groups, including ours, have shown that LNSC is useful tool to diagnose overt and mild hypercortisolism and may be more sensitive than UFC to diagnose mild hypercortisolism. Despite being more convenient to collect than 24h urine, LNSC also suffers from only measuring time-point cortisol. Rare studies have examined whether LNSC could be an adequate biomarker for monitoring response to medical therapy in patients with CD and its usefulness to monitor drug treatment in CD is yet unknown (one study comparing UFC to LNSC in CD patients treated with pasireotide-LAR has been presented but is not yet published). Accordingly, the 2015 guidelines of the endocrine society recommend future research to accurately monitor patients for their response to medical therapy to guide dose optimization. More recently, the measurement of salivary cortisone in 3 saliva samples (SCx3) drawn at approximately 8 hours intervals and starting at 7-8 am have been shown to be a reliable estimate of cortisol production over 24h in normal subjects. Whether this parameter could be used as a substitute of UFC in patients treated with anticortisolic drugs remains unstudied.

Hair cortisol concentration is a non-invasive way to measure cortisol exposure over much longer periods of time (weeks and months) than previously possible with samples of blood, saliva or urine. Several studies have shown that measurement of cortisol in a single scalp hair sample has a diagnostic accuracy for CS similar to currently used first-line tests and may also be used to identify overtreatment in patients receiving hydrocortisone replacement for adrenal insufficiency. To date, no data is available concerning hair Cortisol measurement in comparison with other usual biological tools in patients with CD receiving a medical treatment.

Since 2016, the departments of endocrine biology and clinical endocrinology of Bordeaux university hospital (CHU) have developed the measurement of cortisol and cortisone in scalp hair using LC-MS/MS and have established normative values using several cohorts of control patients.

The purpose of the study is to take advantage of the ability of hair cortisol to measure long-term cortisol exposure to assess the response to medical therapy in patients with CD. More specifically, the working hypothesis is that some patients with a normal UFC may still suffer from an occult mild hypercortisolism that will be identified only by hair cortisol. To study this hypothesis, the investigators will compare the results of hair cortisol to that multiple measurement of UFC, LNSC and SCx3 during a three-month period in patients with CD already treated with medical treatments and considered as "controlled" on the basis of previous UFC measurements.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 51
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Caen, France, 14000
    • Service d'Endocrinologie - CHU Caen
  • Lyon, France, 69000
    • Service d'endocrinologie - HCL
  • Marseille, France, 13000
    • Service d'Endocrinologie, Diabète et Maladies Métaboliques - APHM
  • Nantes, France, 44000
    • CIC d'Endocrinologie, Maladies Métaboliques et Nutrition - CHU de Nantes
  • Paris, France, 75000
    • Service d'Endocrinologie - APHP Cochin
  • Paris, France, 75000
    • Service d'Endocrinologie et des Maladies de la Reproduction - APHP Bicêtre
  • Pessac, France, 33604
    • Service d'endocirnologie, diabète, nutrition, Hôpital Haut Lévêque - CHU de Bordeaux

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

In the three groups:

• Age > 18
• Cushing's disease medical history: histology confirming an ACTH staining adenoma, or ACTH-dependant Cushing syndrome with MRI confirmation of pituitary adenoma, or pituitary secretion of ACTH confirmed with petrosal sinus gradient
• Written informed consent
• Hair length ≥ 3 cm

In patient group:

• Persistent CD diagnosed on usual criteria in expert centers including overt hypercortisolism with at least 2 UFC > 1.5 N prior to the start of medical treatment
• Previous treatment with pasireotide, cabergoline, metyrapone, ketoconazole (alone or in association) AND hypercortisolism considered as controlled for at least 3 months based on 2 normal UFC.

In remission control group:

o Patients cured of CD and having recovered a normal pituitary function for at least 12 months following pituitary surgery (normal UFC associated to: cortisol suppression following dexamethasone suppression test, or normal LNSC, or midnight serum cortisol < 200 nmol/L)

In bilateral surrenalectomy control group:

o Patients with previous CD, treated with bilateral adrenalectomy and receiving weight adjusted doses of hydrocortisone for at least 6 months. Last daily dose of Hydrocortisone should be administered no later than 5 pm.

Exclusion Criteria:

In the three groups:

• Renal Failure (Cl < 30 mL/min)
• Non-compliant patients
• Hair length < 3 cm
• Severe depression and psychosis
• Drug addiction and active alcoholism
• Myocardial infarction or cerebrovascular accident < 3 months
• Intense physical activity (marathon runner)
• Night-shifters
• Obesity with BMI > 35 kg/m2
• Type 1 diabetes
• Type 2 diabetes with HbA1C > 9 %

In patient group:

• Patients receiving mifepristone and/or mitotane
• Patients treated with anticortisolic agents during the titration process
• Patients requiring additional hydrocortisone supplementation or exogenous corticosteroids
• Pituitary radiotherapy < 5 years

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Patient group	Diagnostic test: Patient group; Patients with Cushing Disease (CD) receiving a medical treatment: n = 30 Plasmatic cortisol UFC Urine biocollection Salive biocollection
Active Comparator: Remission control group	Diagnostic test: Remission control group; Patients in remission of CD and having recovered a normal pituitary function for at least 12 months following pituitary surgery (normal UFC associated to: cortisol suppression following dexamethasone suppression test, or normal LNSC, or midnight serum cortisol < 200 nmol/L) n = 15 Plasmatic cortisol UFC Urine biocollection Salive biocollection Haircortisol
Active Comparator: Bilateral surrenalectomy control group	Diagnostic test: Bilateral surrenalectomy control group; Patients with previous CD, treated with bilateral adrenalectomy and receiving weight adjusted doses of hydrocortisone for at least 6 months. Last daily dose of Hydrocortisone should be administered no later than 5 pm. n = 15 Plasmatic cortisol UFC Urine biocollection Salive biocollection Haircortisol

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Evaluate cortisol chronic tissue impregnation	Hypercortisolism will be controlled using 3 cm scalp hair sample in which Hair Cortisol will be measured in patients with Cushing Disease (CD) receiving a medical treatment.	3 months after inclusion day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Evaluate Hair Cortisol (Hcort) measure for Cushing Disease control	Compare Hair Cortisol to UFC (Urinary Free Cortisol), LNSC (late night salivary cortisol) and SC (salivary cortisone) in patients with CD receiving a medical treatment.	3 months after inclusion day
Compare cortisol tissue impregnation thanks to Hair Cortisol measurements in patients with CD receiving a medical treatment and patients control	Compare the results of Hair Cortisol measurements in patients with CD receiving a medical treatment and patients treated with weight-adjusted hydrocortisone replacement doses after bilateral adrenalectomy	3 months after inclusion day
Compare cortisol tissue impregnation thanks to Hair Cortisol measurements in patients cured from CD and patient with bilateral adrenalectomy	Compare the results of Hair Cortisol measurements in patients cured from CD and patients with bilateral adrenalectomy	3 months after inclusion day
Evaluate Hair Cortisol intra-individual variability	Evaluate the dosage of within-patient variability of Hair Cortisol for patients with CD receiving a medical treatment and control groups : patients cured from CD and patients with bilateral adrenalectomy	At day 0 and day 90
Evaluate UFC intra-individual variability	Assess the within-patient variability of UFC in patients with CD receiving a medical treatment	3 months after inclusion day
Satisfaction assessed by Cushing's QOL	Correlate a quality of life assessment with the results of Hair Cortisol, UFC and LNSC thanks to QOL questionnaire : cushing's QOL.	3 months after inclusion day
Evaluate LNSC intra-individual variability	Evaluate the dosage of within-patient variability of LNSC in patients with CD receiving a medical treatment	3 months after inclusion day
Evaluate SC intra-individual variability	Evaluate the dosage of within-patient variability of SC in patients with CD receiving a medical treatment	3 months after inclusion day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Bordeaux
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Antoine TABARIN, Pr, University Hospital, Bordeaux

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 10, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 10, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): June 10, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 4, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 16, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): December 17, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 18, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 17, 2023
• Last Verified: July 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: medical treatment; UFC; LNSC; Hair cortisol
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Endocrine System Diseases; Endocrine Gland Neoplasms; Hypothalamic Diseases; Hyperpituitarism; Pituitary Diseases; Adenoma; Pituitary Neoplasms; ACTH-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma; Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion
• Other Study ID Numbers: CHUBX 2018/60

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No