Transcriptome Analysis of Adrenocortical Cells in Health and Disease

The transcriptome is the complete set of transcripts in a specific type of cell or tissue. Generally, the goal of transcriptome analysis is to identify genes differentially expressed among different conditions, leading to a new understanding of the genes or pathways associated with the conditions. Transcriptome analysis requires an appropriate statistical method with a multiple comparison test to interpret global changes in the expression of thousands of genes. This chapter reviews and describes recent progress in transcriptome analysis of adrenocortical cells. Strategies for determining transcriptomes and data mining to interpret analysis are discussed. Representative studies are introduced, including a mouse model for human lipoid adrenal hyperplasia that proposes, as a new pathophysiological hallmark, a reciprocal interaction between adrenocortical cells and infiltrated macrophages. Analysis of global transcript profiling will be an essential tool for future research on the nature of adrenocortical cells.