The expression of glucocorticoid receptor in patients with small cell lung cancer with or without ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone syndrome

Purpose: Ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting syndrome (EAS) is a relatively rare disease. EAS could not be inhibited by endogenous or exogenous glucocorticoid, which may be its most important characteristic. We aimed to explore the expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with or without EAS. Materials and Methods: In this study, we first reported one patient with EAS caused by SCLC, and we examined the expression of ACTH and GR on pulmonary tissue in normal people and SCLC patients with or without EAS. Results: Immunochemistry analysis showed that there was no obvious difference in the expression of GR in SCLC without EAS compared with normal people. While in the EAS patient, GR expression was absent in the tissue. Conclusions: Therefore, our study found that lower expression of GR in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with EAS, which may contribute to the no inhibition by endogenous or exogenous glucocorticoid.