Oncocytic adrenocortical carcinoma in a putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans) with hyperadrenocorticism

Abstract

Oncocytic adrenocortical tumours are rare in man and have never been described in non-human primates. An oncocytic adrenocortical carcinoma was identified in an 18-year-old female putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans) with hyperadrenocorticism and invasive aspergillosis. Microscopically, the tumour consisted of large cells with abundant eosinophilic, granular cytoplasm containing numerous mitochondria as identified by electron microscopy. Tumour cells had large nuclei with occasional intranuclear cytoplasmic pseudoinclusions. Immunohistochemically, tumour cells expressed vimentin, synaptophysin and neuron-specific enolase, while they were negative for cytokeratin, chromogranin-A, melan-A and S100.

Keywords: hyperadrenocorticism; non-human primate; oncocytic tumour; pseudoinclusions.