[Childhood adrenocortical tumors: from a clinical to a molecular approach]

Adrenocortical tumors (ACT) are more frequent during childhood, but they can appear at any age. ACTs can be classified in functioning, nonfunctioning (mainly observed in adults) and mixed. The diagnosis is based on clinical, biochemical findings and imaging. In children, in order to classify ACT as benign or malignant, tumor staging classification is recommended. Regarding molecular markers some studies should be taken into account: besides TP53 mutations, previous studies have also provided evidences of IGF2 involvement in 90% of the malignant ACT. Mutations altering exon 3 of CTNNB1 gene have been found in 6% of childhood ACTs. In addition, microRNAs can act as negative regulators of gene expression by targeting mRNA controlling cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis and have been implicated in adrenal tumorigenesis. High-throughput methods to analyze genome-wide expression have been developed over the last decade and identified a subset of tumors with good or poor prognosis. In the future, these studies can provide the basis of specific drug development, which can treat patients according to specific altered signaling pathway.