Molecular and trophic mechanisms of tumorigenesis

Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2008 Mar;37(1):23-50, vii. doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2007.10.009.

Abstract

A significant proportion of pituitary macroadenomas, and by definition all microadenomas, regain trophic stability after an initial period of deregulated growth. Classical proto-oncogene activation and tumor suppressor mutation are rarely responsible, and no histologic or molecular markers reliably predict behavior. GNAS1 activation and the mutations associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 and Carney complex, aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein gene mutations, and a narrowing region of chromosome 11q13 in familial isolated acromegaly together account for such a small proportion of pituitary adenomas that the pituitary adenoma pathogenic epiphany is surely yet to come.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / pathology*
  • Chromogranins
  • GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gs / genetics
  • GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gs / physiology
  • Humans
  • Phenotype
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / genetics
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Proto-Oncogene Mas

Substances

  • Chromogranins
  • MAS1 protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Mas
  • GNAS protein, human
  • GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gs