Somatic Molecular Heterogeneity in Bilateral Macronodular Adrenocortical Disease (BMAD) Differs Among the Pathological Subgroups

Bilateral macronodular adrenocortical disease (BMAD) is an uncommon cause of Cushing’s syndrome leading to bilateral macronodules. Isolated BMAD has been classified into three molecular groups: patients with ARMC5 alteration, KDM1A alteration, and patients without known genetic cause. The aim of this study was to identify by NGS, in a cohort of 26 patients with BMAD, the somatic alterations acquired in different nodules after macrodissection from patients with germline ARMC5 or KDM1A alterations and to analyze potential somatic alterations in a panel of five other genes involved in adrenal pathology (GNAS, PDE8B, PDE11A, PRKAR1A, and PRKACA). Twenty-three patients (7 ARMC5, 3 KDM1A, and 13 BMAD with unknown genetic cause) were analyzable. Somatic ARMC5 or KDM1A events were exclusively observed in patients with germline ARMC5 and KDM1A alterations, respectively. Six out of 7 ARMC5 patients have a high heterogeneity in identified somatic events, whereas one ARMC5 and all KDM1A patients show a loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in all nodules. Except for passenger alterations of GNAS, no genetic alteration susceptible to causing the disease was detected in the BMAD with unknown genetic cause. Our study reinforces our knowledge of the somatic genetic heterogeneity of ARMC5 and the somatic homogeneity of KDM1A. It reveals the absence of purely somatic events in these two genes and provides a new tool for detecting KDM1A alterations by FISH 1p36/1q25.