Abstract:Objective To study the expression of FHIT, Ki-67 and PCNA in hypercortisolism of various adrenocortical diseases and explore the correlative factors of the differential diagnosis of hypercortisolism of adrenocortical adenocarcinoma, adenoma and hyperplasia. Methods The expressions of FHIT, Ki-67 and PCNA were detected by immunohistochemical staining in 49 cases of adrenocortical diseases, which included 14 cases of adrenocortical carcinoma, 26 cases of adrenocortical adenoma and 9 cases of adrenocortical hyperplasia. The factors correlated to differential diagnosis of hypercortisolism of various adrenocortical diseases were analyzed statistically by ordinal logistic regression. Results The expression rate of FHIT in adrenocortical hyperplasia, adrenocortical adenoma and adrenocortical adenocarcinoma was 100.00%, 96.15% and 42.96%, respectively. The expression rate of Ki-67 in adreno cortical adenocarcinoma and adrenocortical adenoma was 85.71% and 7.96%, respectively, while there was no expression at all in adrenocortical hyperplasia (0.00%). The expression rate of PCNA in adrenocortical adenocarcinoma, adrenocortical adenoma and adrenocortical hyperplasia was 100.00%, 96.15% and 77.78%, respectively. Logistic regression single-factor analysis revealed that 8 factors including FHIT, Ki-67, PCNA, abdominal mass, tumor size, osteopenia or fracture, serum cortisol level (4 pm) and blood ACTH level (8 am) were possibly linked to the differential diagnosis of hypercortisolism of the adrenocortical diseases, and multiple-factor analysis showed that FHIT and PCNA were the factors closely correlated to differential diagnosis of adrenocortical carcinoma, adenoma and hyperplasia. Conclusions The expressions of FHIT, Ki-67 and PCNA are strongly related with hypercortisolism of various adrenocortical diseases. They might be applied as the markers for distinguishing adrenocortical carcinoma, adrenocortical adenoma and adrenocortical hyperplasia. The results of logistic regression analysis suggest that FHIT, Ki-67, PCNA, abdominal mass, tumor size, osteopenia or fracture, serum cortisol (4 pm) and blood ACTH level (8 am) may be the correlated factors of differential diagnosis of adrenocortical carcinoma, adenoma and hyperplasia; moreover, FHIT and PCNA are the factors closely correlated to differential diagnosis of hypercortisolism of adrenocortical diseases.