Multifunctional cells in human pituitary adenomas: implications for paradoxical secretion and tumorigenesis

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Laura SenovillaCarlos Villalobos

Abstract

Pituitary adenomas are very common in humans. They are of monoclonal origin, very heterogeneous, and produce frequently paradoxical secretion. The normal anterior pituitary (AP) contains some unorthodox multifunctional cells able to store more than one AP hormone (polyhormonal) and/or to express multiple hypothalamic-releasing hormone receptors (multiresponsive). Multifunctional AP cells seem to be involved in plasticity processes such as transdifferentiation or paradoxical secretion. Here, we have characterized the single-cell phenotypes of 15 human pituitary tumors, including prolactinomas, nonfunctioning adenomas, and adenomas from multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN-I) and pituitary Cushing's disease patients. Individual tumor cells were typed according to expression of AP hormones and hypothalamic-releasing hormone receptors by combination of calcium imaging and multiple sequential immunocytochemistry in the same cells. We found a large heterogeneity among the different tumors. In eight of the 15 tumors studied, more than 80% of the cells presented a multifunctional phenotype. This may explain the occurrence of paradoxical secretion. In addition, our results suggest that human pituitary adenomas might derive from mult...Continue Reading

Citations

May 26, 2016·Endocrine·Maria Francesca CassarinoFrancesca Pecori Giraldi
Nov 15, 2006·Integrative Cancer Therapies·Narendra P Singh, Vijay Kumar Panwar
Jun 20, 2018·Journal of Neuroendocrinology·Maria Francesca CassarinoFrancesca Pecori Giraldi
Sep 29, 2006·Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy·Adam M SonabendMaciej S Lesniak

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