Improved methods and systems for diagnosing and for treating Cushing's syndrome and Cushing's Disease are provided herein, including methods and systems for concurrently treating Cushing's syndrome and differentially diagnosing Cushing's Disease from Ectopic Cushing's Syndrome in a patient with an established diagnosis of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome. Treatment methods can use glucocorticoid receptor antagonists (GRAs), which differentially affect the ratio of cortisol to ACTH levels in patients having Cushing's Disease versus patients having Ectopic Cushing's Syndrome. Methods for concurrently treating and differentially diagnosing Cushing's Disease from Ectopic Cushing's Syndrome include obtaining baseline cortisol and ACTH levels of a patient, treating the patient with a GRA according to a protocol that would typically substantially elevate cortisol levels, obtaining post-treatment cortisol and ACTH levels of the patient, determining a differential relationship between baseline cortisol and ACTH levels and post-treatment cortisol and ACTH levels and providing a positive diagnosis based on the differential relationship.

Disclosed herein are devices, systems, methods and kits for performing immunoassay tests on a sample. The immunoassay devices may be used in conjunction with diagnostic reader systems for obtaining a sensitive read-out of the immunoassay results. The immunoassay devices may be especially suited for the detection of at least a first analyte and a second analyte in a sample. The immunoassay devices and methods may utilize a competitive binding-like assay and a sandwich binding assay to detect analytes in a sample.

A method and system for measuring hormone levels in human samples. Either actual levels can be measured, or hormone related parameters can be measured with computation extrapolating the parameters to the actual hormone level. A patient hormone level can be compared against a population database based on age, gender and other factors to determine a score for a particular hormone. A dosage of the hormone being given a patient can be automatically adjusted based on the score with optional approval of the adjustment made by a health professional. This is particularly useful in hormone replacement therapy and in-vitro fertilization.

Corona Phase Molecular Recognition (CoPhMoRe) utilizing a template heteropolymer adsorbed onto and templated by a nanoparticle surface to recognize a specific target analyte can be used for macromolecular analytes, including proteins.

A method for assessing a suicidal severity in a depressed patient according to an embodiment includes measuring a concentration of a suicidal behavior prediction biomarker contained in a biological sample of the depressed patient, wherein the suicidal behavior prediction biomarker is one or more markers selected from the group consisting of cortisol, interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), homocysteine, total cholesterol, and folate, and determining a probability of an increased suicidal severity by comparing the measured concentration of the suicidal behavior prediction biomarker with a preset cutoff level thereof.

Biosensors for small molecules can be used in applications that range from metabolic engineering to orthogonal control of transcription. Biosensors are produced based on a ligand-binding domain (LBD) using a method that, in principle, can be applied for any target molecule. The LBD is fused to either a fluorescent protein or a transcriptional activator and is destabilized by mutation such that the fusion accumulates only in cells containing the target ligand. The power of this method is illustrated by developing biosensors for digoxin and progesterone. Addition of ligand to cells expressing a biosensor activates transcription in yeast, mammalian cells and plants, with a dynamic range of up to about 100-fold or more. The biosensors are used to improve the biotransformation of pregnenolone to progesterone in yeast and to regulate CRISPR activity in mammalian cells. This work provides a general methodology to develop biosensors for a broad range of molecules.

Provided is, for example, a method for analyzing steroid hormones contained in a body hair sample from an animal, wherein body hair collected from an animal is used as the body hair sample, and the method includes: an extraction step of extracting a plurality of types of steroid hormones from the body hair sample by using a 45 vol % to 55 vol % aqueous acetonitrile solution containing 0.1 M trifluoroacetic acid; and a measurement step of measuring the amounts of the plurality of types of steroid hormones extracted.

Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products for using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the analysis of endogenous biomarkers, such as 11-oxo androgens, in a sample. The 11-oxo androgens may comprise at least one of 11-hydroxyandrostendione (11OHA), 11-hydroxytestosterone (11OHT) or 11-ketotestosterone (11KT). More specifically, the methods, systems, and computer program products are described for detecting and quantifying the amount of an 11-oxo-androgen in a sample.

Novel methods for preventing, reducing the risk of development of, and for treating hypercoagulopathy in Cushing's syndrome patients with elevated risk of developing hypercoagulopathy are disclosed. The methods are further useful to prevent, to reduce the risk of developing, and to treat deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), and venous thromboembolism (VTE); and to treat inflammatory states. The methods include: administering heteroaryl-ketone fused azadecalin glucocorticoid receptor modulator (HKGRM) to a Cushing's syndrome patient at risk of developing hypercoagulopathy, thereby treating hypercoagulopathy. Methods of preventing, reducing risk of developing, and of treating DVT, PR, or VTE in a Cushing's syndrome patient comprise administering a HKGRM to the patient. Methods of unmasking and subsequently reducing an inflammatory state comprise administering an effective amount of a HKGRM to a Cushing's syndrome patient, effective first to increase inflammatory symptoms and then to subsequently decrease said inflammatory symptoms in the patient.

A method for measuring a steroid in a urine sample comprising: an acid treatment step of mixing and reacting an urine sample with an acid solution such that a normality of acid becomes 0.6 to 4N to obtain an acid-treated solution; a neutralization treatment step of mixing and reacting the acid-treated solution and a neutralizing solution to obtain a neutralization-treated solution; and a measurement step of mixing the neutralization-treated solution and an antibody capable of specifically binding to a steroid to measure the steroid.