Abstract
Pituitary adenomas comprise 10% of intracranial tumors and occur in about 20% of the population. Nonfunctioning (NF) pituitary adenomas do not cause clinical hormone hypersecretion, they account for approximately 30% of pituitary tumors. Their molecular pathogenesis is unclear. To elucidate the molecular changes that contribute to the development of these tumors and classify them by their molecular characteristics, we investigated 11 NF pituitary adenomas and eight normal pituitary glands, using 33 oligonucleotide GeneChip microarrays. We validated microarray results with the reverse transcription-real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) using 23 NF adenomas and eight normal pituitary glands.
Microarray analysis identified significant increases in the expression of 115 genes and decreases in 169 genes. We observed changes in expression of SFRP1, TLE2, PITX2, Notch3, and delta-like 1, suggesting that the developmental Wnt and Notch pathways are activated and important for the progression of NF pituitary adenomas. We further analyzed gene expression profiles of all NF pituitary subtypes compared to each other and identified genes that were uniquely altered in each subtype.
The results provide new insight into the pathogenesis and molecular classification of NF pituitary adenomas, and suggest that therapeutic targeting of the Notch pathway could be effective for these tumors.
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Evans, CO., Moreno, C.S., Oyesiku, N.M. (2008). Novel Molecular Signaling and Classification of Human Clinically Nonfunctioning Pituitary Adenomas Identified by Microarray and Reverse Transcription-Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction. In: Handwerger, S., Aronow, B. (eds) Genomics in Endocrinology. Contemporary Endocrinology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-309-7_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-309-7_14
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