Endocrine Abstracts

HMGA2 gene amplification and overexpression in human prolactinomas and development of pituitary adenomas in HMGA-transgenic mice showed that HMGA proteins play a crucial role in pituitary tumorigenesis. Recently, we have explored the pRB/E2F1 pathway to investigate the mechanism by which HMGA proteins act, showing that HMGA2 interacts with pRB and induces E2F1 activity in mouse pituitary adenomas by displacing HDAC1 from the pRB/E2F1 complex – a process that result...

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) are a family of serine/threonine kinases and are key signaling pathways involved in the regulation of normal cell proliferation, survival and differentiation. In mammals, there are more than a dozen MAPK genes. The best known are the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERK1 and 2); c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK1-3); p38s (α, β, γ, δ) and ERK5. Aberrant regulation of MAPK cascades contribute to cancer and ...

Although most pituitary tumors are benign, some are invasive or aggressive. In the absence of specific markers of malignancy, only tumors with metastases are considered malignant. Recently we identified a marker set of invasion, proliferation and aggressiveness in prolactin (PRL) tumors1. We will present the prognostic value of histological and molecular markers in PRL tumors and their usefulness in other types of pituitary tumors.Forty-five patients, 23...

Markers to predict tumor biology represent an important tool for the optimal management of pituitary adenomas. Specific morphologic features may serve as predictive markers of tumor behavior. These include a) tumor cell-specific markers, b) stromal-related elements involving vasculature and angiogenetic factors, and additional stromal substances and c) miscellaneous tumor type-associated features.Macroscopic invasion of the perisellar tissues, defined as...